Caston boys basketball preview: Comets looking to push the pace after strong finish

Val T.
2 hours ago
5 min read

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Caston boys basketball team was 6-10 after 16 games last year.

Then they won seven in a row. That included conference wins against Argos, North Judson, Oregon-Davis and North Miami. Lane Hook and Carson Harness hit last-second 3-pointers to beat North Judson and North Miami, respectively, as part of the winning streak.

They also beat Lewis Cass twice last season after losing their previous nine meetings against them.

They also won their sectional quarterfinal game against DeMotte Christian before a season-ending loss to West Central in the semifinals.

Reserves Jan Aguilar-Mendez and Max Sommers graduated, but starters Reed Sommers, Drew McGrew, Logan Mollenkopf, Gavin Mollenkopf and Hook are back, and anyone who saw them play during the summer might have noticed that they literally could not wait to begin getting ready for the 2025-26 season.

The pace of play was a point of emphasis as Caston raced into the frontcourt to set up their offense.

“I think guys getting together and being able to play together and learning to play together,” Caston ninth-year coach Carl Davis said. “I know we have a lot of continuity on our varsity roster this year, but you’re kind of searching for those next kids. Who’s going to step up and fill a role? So I think just getting the opportunity to play. Sometimes as coaches just sitting back and watching them and seeing what their preference is because we give a lot of freedom in the offseason in terms of pace of play especially. And this group just showed that they really wanted to play fast. … That’s how they were all summer. You try to slow them down, and they just want to keep going faster. I thought it was a telling summer for us in that regard.”

There is seemingly an endless supply of 3-point shooting. Caston returns 96.7 percent of their scoring from last year and 93.5 percent of their made 3-pointers. And on top of that, they added Brodie Howard, a move-in who hit 17 3-pointers at Pioneer last year.

“Brodie gets on heaters,” Davis said. “And he can shoot.”

Logan Mollenkopf led the team in scoring as a freshman at 14.5 points per game, exhibiting both a smooth lefty shooting stroke and post-up moves.

“If you look back at last season, jumping from eighth grade to varsity, just the change of pace is drastic,” Davis said. “It’s hard to do. It’s difficult to do. And you saw him feeling that out, I thought, early in the season. But then it seemed to start to click for him. He was starting to figure out what situations do I need to attack in and what situations do I just need to move in. From an offensive standpoint, that decision making and knowing when to attack, that’s going to be that next step for him. He’s worked hard in the offseason to improve his perimeter shooting as well.

“He’s a matchup nightmare because he can go down in the post, and he can score. He’s just so long that he’s going to be able to score over you. He attacks the rim off the dribble really well. If he can bring a little bit more consistency from the perimeter in Year 2, he just becomes somebody you can’t guard. We’re excited to see that development. Defensively, he’s so long, and he’s so disruptive and makes big plays for us.”

Hook was second on the team in scoring at 13.5 ppg and first in rebounding at 6.5 rpg, and he also has an inside-outside game.

“I think that he’s continued to add to this game since last offseason,” Davis said of the 6-4 junior. “As a ballhandler specifically, he’s gotten a lot better each year. Just even looking at the practice film… he’s just doing such a good job of attacking space and getting downhill to the rim. So you’re adding that dynamic as well where as a freshman and even somewhat his sophomore year, you’re getting it inside to him in the post, and last year he showed he was our most consistent shooter, and he was able to score from the outside, and now he’s adding that drive to it and getting downhill too.”

Sharpshooter Carson Harness and forward Gage Thomas, whom Davis praised for his leadership skills, round out the junior class.

Other sophomores include guard Owen Chapman, also known for his shooting, and forward Tucker Woolever.

Put together, one might look at the seven-game winning streak late last season as a jumping-off point for this season.

“I think we really went through adversity in the first part of the year,” Davis said. “You look at the majority of those losses to start the season, and they were games where we had leads at halftime, and they were games that we had double-digit leads in the second half and then teams would come and beat us up. And they should have. That’s what gave us problems.

“I thought with as many young kids as we played last year, that’s to be expected. But it was very encouraging to finish the season the way they did, adapting to that pressure a little bit better and able to put 32 minutes together. It was a great sign of progress. Obviously, it doesn’t show up in the box score, and that can be frustrating. I think it’s frustrating for maybe people external to the program more than us because we’re seeing it on a day-to-day basis, that growth that they were showing.”

Caston boys basketball schedule

The Cass County Invitational was moved back from Dec. 3 to Dec. 23 due to the Pioneer football team’s success. The tournament will be played entirely on that day at Logansport. Caston’s road game against Argos was moved up from Feb. 10 to Dec. 2 to fill the hole on the schedule.

Nov. 25 – at Lakeland Christian, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 2 – at Argos, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 12 – at Carroll (Flora), 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 13 – vs. Frontier, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 19 – at Bremen, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 23 – at Cass County Invitational at Logansport (field includes Lewis Cass, Pioneer, Logansport)

Dec. 29-30 – at Miami County Invitational at Maconaquah

Jan. 9 – vs. Culver, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 10 – at Delphi, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 17 – vs. West Central, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 20 – at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 23 – at Winamac, 7:30 p.m.