Fountain Central boys basketball has found its coach. In the first year under Greg Dean the Mustangs won 14 games, their most since the 2014-15 season. FC even had perenial power Carroll (Flora) on the ropes in the sectional semi-final before falling 46-44. Carroll went 24-2 last year and fell in the Class 2A semi-finals. The talent is there for the Mustangs to make a run this season as FC returns it’s top five scorers from a year ago.
Athletic point guard Will Harmon averaged 11 points a game a year ago and really saved his best basketball for the end of the season where he had a five game stretch scoring at least 23 points. 6’10 big man Mason Larkin averaged 10 points and six rebounds a year ago and can step out and shoot the three. Isaac Gayler racked up 7.3 points, Luke Foxworthy 4.2 and Koby Wolf 3.1.
“We are excited about the group of guys we have coming back, along with the new guys that are rounding out our lineup,” Dean said. “Every team, from year to year is different. We know we have the opportunity to have success this year. It’s important for us to not focus on that success, but rather focus on getting better every day.”
Team defense has been at the focal point of the Mustangs success and improvement. A season ago FC gave up 45.7 points per game, an almost 10 points less than the previous year. Dean notes how he’ll look to continue to see growth in that area as well as in other aspects of his team’s play.
“Our guys really bought into playing defense from day one last year, and it carried us throughout most of the season,” he said. “Offensively, we got better as the year progressed. We became much more efficient scoring the ball the last month of the season. We need to continue to improve in all aspects of the game this year. There is certainly plenty of room to grow on both sides of the ball.”
Fountain Central with the new class and sectional realignment got bumped down to Class A this season and with that comes a new sectional. FC is one of six teams in the new Class A Sectional 54 that features Attica, Clinton Central, Faith Christian, North Vermillion, and Rossville. Along with a winnable sectional FC also has their eyes set on the WRC title.
“It is certainly our goal to win the Bi-County championship, a WRC championship, and a sectional title,” Dean said. But to put ourselves in position to do those things, we have to get better every day in practice. It’s a long year and we have to embrace the grind and the process, and do everything we can to be playing our best basketball come February.”
The Mustangs get their 2022-23 season underway on Tuesday with a trip to take on North Montgomery.
