Trask basketball hopes tough non-conference schedule paves the way toward a league title
The Trask boys basketball team came into the 2021-22 season with high expectations and conference title aspirations. An inexperienced bunch surprised local competition last season by finishing second in the Coastal 8 1A/2A league.
Head coach Rodney Orr didn't want his team to be satisfied, so he scheduled a grueling non-conference schedule that included nine games against 4A schools. Trask had faced five 4A opponents in the previous five seasons.
Trask wrapped up its non-conference schedule Friday night with and 81-23 win over Union. The Titans (7-6) are just above .500, but the bumps and bruises of facing bigger schools are in the rear-view mirror.
"Just getting out and playing really good players on really good teams, it made us better," Trask senior Robert Pridgen said. "It was fun to go against those guys."
Orr said there were three reasons he elected to schedule so many difficult non-conference opponents this winter. First, he wanted to build a mentally-tough team that dealt with adversity early in the season.
Second, Orr and the Titans are entering a new conference and don't know exactly what to expect from the Columbus County schools and Whiteville. Stiff competition against good 4A teams gave Trask many different looks.
Finally, the new RPI format of seeding NCHSAA playoff teams heavily weights the record of teams' opponents. Hoggard, Laney and Holly Springs should give Trask a nice boost when the NCHSAA puts together the brackets in February.
"You don't get better without hard work," Orr said. "The beginning of the season was definitely a challenge, but I'm proud of the way the guys fought the entire time. We were right in it in games against Laney and Hoggard. Those are confidence builders."
The next step is carrying over that confidence and producing the desired results in the Lake Waccamaw Conference. Trask is hungry for its first league championship since 2018.
And once again, the Titans have a young squad. Pridgen, who scored a game-high 12 points Friday night, is one of just three seniors on the roster along with Tyran Pickett and Ethan McKnight. Pickett had 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the win over Union.
The driving force of the team is sophomore point guard Myron McKoy, who led Trask in scoring as a freshman and is once again pacing the Titans with 13.9 points per game. His ability to stretch the floor leaves driving lanes open for Pridgen, Pickett, Isaac Turner and Sherrod Henderson.
Beyond those five, Trask has some added depth this season that Orr thinks could be a difference-maker in the challenging league games ahead.
"We've got a lot of similar players, and with the up-and-down style we want to play, we're going to need to have a lot of guys capable of making winning plays," Orr said.
The true measuring sticks for Orr's season-long strategy are just around the corner. Trask hits the road to face West Columbus on Tuesday, and the Titans have back-to-back games against Pender and Whiteville later in January.
But one thing is for sure, Trask has already played the best teams on its schedule. The Titans hope their daunting start leads to a thrilling finish.
Reporter Jackson Fuller can be reached at Jackson.Fuller@StarNewsOnline.com or 910-343-2262.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Tough schedule has Trask basketball primed for a strong finish
