Despite recent Ls, Woodland hoops moving forward

Following Saturday’s 66-64 loss to Confluence Prep Academy in the Sixth Man Shootout at Charleston High School, the Woodland boy’s basketball program has dropped three of its last five games.

The skid started with a 76-42 rout by Puxico in the Stoddard County Athletic Association Tournament championship game a week ago. Still, third-year Cardinal coach Shawn Kinder said recently there had been no lingering effects from that defeat.

“We just had to flush (that loss),” Kinder said of the loss to the Indians. “Puxico came out and punched us and we never recovered.”

Not only were the several thousand fans in attendance stunned as that game unfolded, but so was Kinder.

“I saw some emotions and behaviors from our kids that I had never seen ever,” Kinder explained. “I think we made that game bigger than what it really was.”

The same could be said for the past week and the three losses.

The Puxico game was what it was, a horrendous outing by the Class 3 No. 6 ranked Cardinals (18-4), but the other two defeats (a four-point road loss to Class 4 Kennett and a two-point road loss to Class 4 Confluence Prep) showed that the Woodland athletes weren’t wallowing on a single bad night.

“That night (Jan. 31) the guys got together themselves,” Kinder said. “They watched the game film and hammered each other on what they didn’t do.

“They kind of made light of it, really, and kind of flushed it.”

Woodland had a pair of road wins this week against Advance (73-30) and Notre Dame (70-66), before having an impressive outing – even in a loss – on Saturday.

Confluence Prep outscored Woodland 23-16 in the third quarter and led 52-43 early in the final period before the Cardinals rallied.

With just over a minute remaining, Woodland held a 61-60 lead, however, Confluence Prep made plays down the stretch to overtake Kinder’s kids.

Cardinal senior guard Lane Lee had an opportunity to tie the game at the buzzer on a mid-range drive, but the Confluence Prep defense knocked the ball away from Lee.

Woodland was paced in the loss by junior guard Korbin Kinder with 22 points and grabbing nine boards.

Lee chipped in 14 points while junior guard Calvin Layton finished with 10.

The Cardinals return home for the first time in 18 days on Monday, as they host Meadow Heights (7-8) at 8 p.m.

Looming on the upcoming Woodland calendar, however, is a rematch with Puxico on Feb. 18 at Puxico.

“I told the guys that you can’t go back and change (that loss),” Kinder said. “We’ll look at what’s ahead of us right now and regroup. We get them again and we’ll see what happens.”