The Fair Grove High School boys’ basketball team has been preparing for this season since the end of last year’s.
The team has four returning seniors; Kyle Cavanaugh, Mason Kesterson, Coby Church, and Jaryd Maggard. “This summer our players were dedicated, spent time in the weight room, and played in a variety of summer basketball shootouts and camps,” said head coach, Tim Brown.

Walking through the weight room, it’s easy to tell that the boys have one common goal; state. “My goal for this upcoming basketball season is to go to state, we have a great chance this year and I’m excited to see how far we go,” explained Church. This year’s state tournament will be held at The University of Missouri in Columbia. With a poster of the Mizzou Arena hanging just inside their locker room, the boys get a constant reminder of their shared goal.
This fall the team had 18 of their 22 players also play soccer or football. “This is something we are really proud of,” stated Coach Brown. He also added, “multi-sport athletes have helped soccer and football to reach the district championship games. We believe success breeds more success.”

The majority of the team’s players have all been in the program and competed at the varsity level for a while now. “We do however have two players, Steven Huskey and Dalton Cloyd, who spent the majority of last season playing JV,” said Brown, “but they both had a fantastic summer on the basketball court and an awesome fall on the football field.”

The boys started official practices on November 2nd, and played a home jamboree against Ozark and Glendale on 11/20, then home games vs. Forsyth on 11/23 and Cassville on 11/24.