The athletes at Otis-Bison High School have really outdone themselves this year.
First, they made a run all the way to the Eight-Man Division-II football state championship game.
Now, they have punched their ticket to the Class 1A Division-II state basketball tournament in Hays.
“We’ve got good athletes,” Otis-Bison head coach Alan Clark said. “Last year, you had to win regionals to make it to sub-state because 1A wasn’t divided. We won the regional and we made it to sub-state.”
The Cougars square off against Fowler on Thursday afternoon at 4:45 at Gross Memorial Stadium.
Last season, the Cougars had Kevin Wissman, who was an all-state selection in his senior year. He averaged more than 20 points per game for the Cougars. Clark talked about his team’s ability to step up together to fill in.
“That was something that we talked about at the beginning of the season,” Clark said. “We didn’t need a couple of guys stepping up their averages by 10 points. We just needed everyone to put in three or four more points per game.”
That, according to Clark, is the biggest strength for the Cougars’ offense.
“You can’t concentrate on any one guy in our offense,” Clark said. “Against Wilson, they came out in that diamond one (defense), covering Michael (Hlavaty), and I think that was just a slap in the face to the other four guys on the court.
“I think that over the season, we have had all five of our starters lead our team in scoring at least one night.”
Trevor Keller leads the Cougars with 10.4 points per game.
“Keller is our best 3-point shooter,” Clark said. “Michael and Trevor are our best free-throw shooters. You see, Keller is mainly a defensive player. He is usually the one that covers the other team’s best shooter, and he does a good job shutting them down.”
Hlavaty averages nine points per game and has made 51 of 67 free throws for 76.1 percent.
Ultimately, Clark said that his team is a defensive team.
“That is what we concentrate on, defense and rebounding,” Clark said. “When you look at Chase, we held them to 27. Wilson, they scored 50, but we held them to 11 points in the first half.”