Photo courtesy of Cartershots

The Pampa Harvesters basketball season tips off on Saturday, Nov. 7, when they travel to Amarillo to take on the Caprock Longhorns for a scrimmage.

This squad will look quite a bit different from last year’s team, who graduated 10 seniors. But Head Coach Braydon Barker, now in his 10th year coaching at Pampa, said the players who will be stepping into those positions have been eager to show what they can do on the court.

“I think we will be competitive,” Barker said. “We lost 10 seniors and that was a good group for us. But this junior class has won at pretty much every level they’ve played (freshman, JV, junior high, etc.) Last year the JV went 20-5. Most of our team is coming up from JV.

Last year’s team finished fourth in what many consider to be one of the toughest districts in the state. They went on to win two playoff games before falling to Lubbock-Cooper Liberty in the Regional Semi-Finals.

“I was proud of us last year,” Barker said. “Making the playoffs in this district, no matter what seed you are, is a big accomplishment. In bi-district, we beat Midland-Greenwood

in a really tough game. Then we beat Clint in the second round. Then we lost to Lubbock-Cooper Liberty, who was ranked No. 5 in the Regional Semi-Final. They were good; we were out-manned there.

“Making the playoffs two years in a row is something to build off of, for sure.”

Barker said while the graduating class from last year made a lasting impact on Pampa Basketball, not only in making the postseason two years in a row, but also in showing what it takes to make the playoffs and how to win once you get there.

“I think these younger guys have seen we can keep that going this season,” Barker said.

The Harvesters will be very junior-heavy this year but will still have a couple of familiar faces fans will recognize from last season.

“We do return two starters, Juniors Aaron Martinez and Talan Garcia. We will lean on those two, and then we have three seniors: Cache Kidwell, J’Shawn Wright and Cy LeBlanc. We will be junior-heavy.”

Kidwell will be the biggest player on the team, playing inside the middle.

“He’s really worked hard,” Barker said. “He just started playing basketball his sophomore year. He’s been working really hard in the gym throughout the year and has improved a lot. J’Shawn has played a lot of basketball; he’ll be a point guard for us. He’ll make a lot of things happen.

“Cy will do anything you ask of him, just like on the football field. You see him flying around on defense (in football). He always gives 100 percent and is a great teammate. He will feel in wherever we need him.”

Junior Jeryn Owens will also hang up his cleats for the season and put on some sneakers to play basketball. He played some minutes during the playoff run last season and will look to do the same this season. 

“That experience was really big for him last year,” Barker said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do this year on his first full year of varsity.”

Juniors Eli Dudley, Dage Scott, Nate Haynes, Gunner Scantlin and Aiden Hammond round out the rest of the 11 to make the varsity squad.

“All of those guys do a good job and will know their roles,” Barker said. “I think this year more than ever will be these kids buying into a different role than they have had in the past. Everybody can average 20 points a game. But we are going to need some guys who can rebound, play defense, and share the ball with each other. These guys are unselfish. They will buy in, and if it’s their time and they are having a good game, they can fill up for 20. But if it’s somebody else’s, I think they will do a good job getting it to the hot hand.”

The Harvesters’ schedule has a mixed bag of levels of competition ranging from 3As to 5As.

“We’re playing Caprock, Plainview and Frenship-Memorial,” Barker said. “They are all good 5A programs to get us ready. We’re playing Bushland and Childress, also. They are good 3A programs who make a deep run in the playoffs. That’ll get us ready.”

The Harvesters will make their annual appearance in the Childress tournament, showcasing teams like Holliday and Vernon. The Harvesters will appear in a new tournament (for them) in Breckenridge, Texas, near Abilene.

“We lost our Lubbock Tournament; they decided not to do one this year,” Barker said. “So we found this Breckenridge one; that’ll have a lot of new teams from the Abilene area. That’ll be nice to see some new faces and play some different teams.”

The Harvesters are in District 4-4A with Canyon, West Plains, Randall, Borger, Dumas, Perryton and Hereford. 

“This district is always tough for every sport,” Barker said. “The three Canyon schools will be solid. Hereford was young last year and returned a lot of their pieces. Dumas lost quite a bit last year. Perryton is always competitive, and it’s hard to play there. Borger has a new coach, so you never know what to expect when you get a new coach in there with some other athletes. 

“It’ll be tough every night. It’ll be a grind. But I’m excited to see what these guys can do.”

Barker said the depth and the way the scoring will be spread around is what he is most looking forward to seeing this year. All of that stems from their familiarity with each other. 

“Even last year the three seniors were on JV as juniors,” Barker said. “This entire group, other than Talon and Aaron, were together last year. They went 20-5 so they know how to play together. They played really well with each other.

“It won’t be just one guy carrying the scoring load. We will have four or five guys that can put up 15 points every night. So it’ll be hard for teams to focus on just one. Our versatility, them playing together and our depth could really help us out.”

Not only will Barker have familiarity on the basketball court. But the coaches on the sideline will once again see Reid Miller and Jason Farmer return as assistant coaches.

“This is the same coaching staff we’ve had for four years,” Barker said. “That’s a huge plus. They do a really good job helping varsity out and an exceptional job with their own teams. I always know that they’re going to hold the kids accountable and their basketball knowledge is really high. I’m blessed to have two great assistants to give me feedback on varsity games and do really well with their respective teams.”

As it’s been done with coaches all year, Barker was given the opportunity to finish this sentence: “This season will be a success if……”

“If we stay healthy and we keep expanding on playing together,” Barker said. “I don’t want to put a cap on as far as how many rounds we go. But getting to the playoffs is always a goal. But once you get in the playoffs, anything can happen. We got in as the four seed and went three rounds deep two years in a row. Once you get in that tournament, anything can happen.”