Conqs have dodged bullets all season

The Dodge City Conquistadors have somewhat of a misleading record. Although the Conqs are 10-and-5, they've played only five home games all season long.

"I think we've played an extremely tough schedule," said head coach Brian Hobrecht. "I think we're playing seven freshmen a ton of minutes. We tried to challenge them early and get them to grow up quickly so that we can be very well prepared for the conference race and be ready to play."

Sophomores Demarcus Lyday, Melvin Smith and Jake Sims have played well and are all being recruited by Division One schools.

"I think those three players have done a good job for us," Hobrecht said. "All three are good players, all three have been consistent for us. They have tried to really pass along some of the things we feel we have to do to be successful to the freshmen."

However, Hobrecht has also gotten a contributions from his youth.

"We have three freshmen that have stood out," said the coach. "Charlie Coley has stood out because he is in the top 15 in the country in rebounding, may be in the top 10. He is averaging 10 or 11, and has consistently gotten double doubles. Wade Knapp has stood out. He's really gonna be a good player. Our backup point guard, Julius Perkins is fourth in the nation in assists as a backup. He's only playing maybe 20 minutes a game. We've really got nice group of freshmen."

It won't get any easier for the Conqs. They are just a couple games into the Jayhawk Conference schedule.

"I think we've got to understand what it takes to win on the road," Hobrecht said. "We've got to understand what playing for 40 minutes means, finish things that we start, understand it may not be the first 35 minutes of the game that always matter, it may be last five. It comes down to players making big plays."

How many big plays Dodge City can get remains to be seen.