Published: December 05, 2005 11:45 pm         

Mustangs begin hoops season

By Bruce Campbell Staff Writer



For the fourth time in Brandon Gallagher's tenure at Pioneer, his Mustangs basketball team will open the season tonight with just one practice as a full team after the school reached the Class B finals in football.

The Mustangs host Oklahoma Bible Academy in the second half of a 6:30 p.m. girls-boys doubleheader.

"It's not the ideal thing, but we're used to it," Gallagher said. "It's just a matter of catching up."

The Mustangs will have to catch up quickly because they open play at the KOFM Classic Thursday. OBA is 3-0 and considered one of the top teams in Class 2A.

"It would be a pretty tough game (even) if we had been in the gym for two months," Gallagher said. "We're not conceding anything. We're not going to make any excuses."

Pioneer returns four starters from a 21-5 team that reached the state tournament for the first time in school history -- 6-foot-2 senior forward J.J. Fournier (12.2 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game), 6-foot-3 senior forward Phillip Easterly (11.8 ppg and 7.1 rpg), 5-foot-10 senior guard Jacob Hundley (9.6 ppg and 2.5 rpg) and 6-foot-4 senior forward Seth Stambaugh (11.4 ppg and 4.7 rpg).

Garrett Diel and Cody Mendenhall should see plenty of action off the bench.

Hundley has been slowed by a torn ACL in his right knee, suffered during football season. He will play, but Gallagher doesn't know how effective he will be.

Gallagher's main concern is conditioning.

"I don't think it will take us too long to catch up," he said. "These are pretty smart kids."

The Trojans are led by the trio of Lenny Juliano (19 ppg), Larin Wiens (16 ppg) and Travis Mendel (14.7 ppg). OBA and Pioneer are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the KOFM Classic and could play again in the finals.

Pioneer's girls will make their debut under new head coach Christy Barnes tonight.

The small, quick Lady Mustangs return six players with starting experience -- 4-foot-11 senior guard Shanna Buckles (9.5 ppg), 5-foot-3 senior guard Lisa Mack (4.6 ppg), 5-foot-7 senior forward Valerie Sharp (6.2 ppg), 5-foot-8 sophomore forward Kinzie Martin (6.9 ppg), 5-foot-3 sophomore forward Ashanti Carr (4.6 ppg) and 5-foot-7 sophomore Danielle Stewart (4.3 ppg).

OBA's girls (3-0) are led by Jordan Williams (13.0 ppg), Bridget Shuck (11.0) and Faith Garrard (10.0).