Raring to go

Much like Jonesboro’s boys, Hot Springs has yet to play its first regular-season game.

That’ll change today when the Trojans face Mena in the Hot Springs Invitational.

“This will be our first taste of official action,” Hot Springs Coach Ant Lasker said. “We played [Little Rock] Central a couple of weeks ago in a benefit game, but this is the first one that’ll actually count. And we’re excited to finally get things going.”

Lasker will again have a young team in place, but for him, he’s not looking at that as a hindrance. Instead, he said he sees it as an opportunity – one that he feels will pay off as the season progresses. He does have senior Jabari West at his disposal, and that’s sure to help ease any growing pains the Trojans may have on.

West, a 6-8 power forward who’s already signed with George Washington, will be the focal point inside for Hot Springs, which caught fire down the stretch last season to make it back to the Class 5A state tournament. Nasir Hannah, Beno Stephens and Devren Brown are now juniors and will be expected to contribute more, especially now that standout guard J.J. Walker has graduated. Sophomore Tyrell Honey, who was the only freshman to see significant minutes on the team a year ago, Kendell Williams and Octavious Rhodes will all have roles this season as well.

“Unfortunately, we did have some guys that decided not to return for whatever reason,” Lasker explained. “Some of those guys were experienced players, had a couple of other quick kids that decided not to play. But at the end of the day, we’ve got the guys that want to be here.

“We’re going to be depending on a lot of sophomores, and we’ve got to use the month of December to try to get them as much experience as possible and build on it. So when the month of January rolls around, they’ll know what to expect.”

What Lasker is anticipating to see during his team’s three-day tournament is top-shelf basketball from programs representing each corner of the state.

“Any time we invite teams to tournaments or build a schedule, everything is about preparing for January,” he said. “That’s why you invite a Marion team with Dave Clark, who’s won a state championship. You invite a Watson Chapel led by my good friend, Marcus Adams. You’ve got [Springdale] HarBer that’s got a good group, Conway has a solid group, Earle is always competing in 2A.

“You want your guys to see what’s really out there and not just getting caught up with being the best around Garland County. You want to be the best in the state and in order to do that, you’ve got to compete with some of the best in the state.”