Since Tad Shotten took over as head coach a year ago, Community R-6 boys basketball has shown progress.

Entering his second year leading the Trojans, Shotten believes they can take another step this year as they attempt to build off an 8-18 record – an increase of three wins from the previous season.

“I haven’t had to spend as much time on teaching,” Shotten said. “They know my expectations and the system that we’re going to run so that’s really nice.”

Shotten said a strength for the Trojans is they have several players that can display a lot of strength as well as athleticism, including reigning all-Central Activities Conference and all-district player Gavin Allen, who heads into his senior year as someone. Junior Mason Carroll was a “big scorer” and will be expected to carry much of the load and is versatile on the court along with the upperclassmen core of seniors Logan Johnson and Tucker Robnett and junior Eli Johnson.

The depth of the roster after that includes some bench players that Shotten is confident they will be effective and give his starters a rest and keep them healthy. Juniors Mason Rohan and Brant Cope will be key coming off the bench.

There were five games last season Community lost by single digits so Shotten hopes the Trojans can make the plays that turn those types of games into wins and ultimately continue the momentum toward a successful program.

“We’d like to close some of those close games we were in last year,” Shotten said. “We just didn’t make the play down the end – just those growing pains. This year, I want to see us putting more complete games together.”

While Shotten said Community’s roster has several players that can do “a little bit of everything,” he hopes better defense is included in that everything this season as the Trojans’ points allowed per game went up about seven points to 59.9.

“We need to improve in the defensive area. I don’t think we found our exact identity,” Shotten said. “Hopefully we have a good year, hopefully everybody will come out to support us and hopefully we can play some good basketball for some people.”