Following a winning season, basketball players senior Jarrett-Cox Bradley, junior Josh Konecek, senior Risaan McKenney and freshman Deandre Campbell were recognized for their hard work and success with all-conference awards.
Making a name for himself this year was Cox-Bradley, who was unanimously selected as the Suburban Central Conference Player of the Year.
“We were so fortunate to have Jarrett have the season he had, it was almost surreal,” head coach Rick Kirby said. “When I look at the names of some of these people in the Parkway Central record book, he’s in awful good company and has surpassed them for the single season scoring leader.”
Finishing second in the state in points per game this season, Cox-Bradley stood out as a prolific scorer, and coaches began to notice.
“It’s good to know that other coaches in the conference notice my work,” Cox-Bradley said. “I watched (Nathan) Biggs get it last year so it was something I wanted to work for and get this year.”
Cox-Bradley spent hours over the off season refining his game and working to get stronger. Cox-Bradley’s off-season routine seems to have had an affect, according to Kirby.
“I can’t tell you how many times all fall we’re in here 5:15 or 5:30 in the morning, putting up 250 or 300 shots, and it payed off for him,” Kirby said.
Cox-Bradley’s accomplice in the back court, McKenney, was also selected as a first team all-conference player, and held a huge role in the team’s success.
“When Risaan played really well, we went to a different level,” Kirby said. “We did an outstanding job of overachieving from the standpoint that we were so undersized every single game that we went out. We had to work so hard every game, nothing was ever guaranteed.”
Being disadvantaged because of their lack of size, the team had to be on the same page and work together in order to win games against bigger teams.
“At first nobody thought we were going to be anything, but we knew it and we believed in ourselves and we turned a lot of heads this season,” McKenney said.
Campbell, the rookie of the team, attracted the attention of opposing coaches throughout the season, resulting in his selection as the newcomer of the year.
“When I watched him defend, it was a no-brainer that the dude was on the varsity team,” Kirby said.
Breaking through the adversity as a freshman on the varsity team, Campbell showed his athleticism on both sides of the ball.
“I felt nervous at first but as the season went on it evened out and it was all good,” Campbell said. “I would go to practice and just work as hard as I could, because I knew that it would pay off in the game.”
Kirby constantly puts emphasis for his players to give their best effort on defense, which makes Konecek’s selection as Defensive Player of the Year especially important to him.
“[Konecek’s] Defensive Player of the Year Award just has special meaning to me because from the first day I took over that’s what we’ve built our foundation on,” Kirby said.
Konecek pushes himself to work hard for his teammates and compete every time he takes the floor.
“I take pride in my defense, and I think if that’s something I can contribute to the team then that’s what I’m going to do,” Konecek said. “Maybe it’s not always scoring, but they need me to stop a scorer on the other team.”
Konecek’s mind isn’t on his personal achievements, but the best interest of the team.
“My biggest motivator was getting the win for my team,” Konecek said. “It’s not about me, it’s about us.”
The team’s run ended on March 6, when they fell to Lafayette 43-40 in the district championship.
“We had some deficiencies but every high school team does and we put ourselves in a position to even beat Lafayette and had chances,” Kirby said. “It wasn’t a great year, but it was a really good one.”
