By Steve Keenan
Sports Editor
HICO —
As with any other team that makes it to Charleston for the state basketball tournament, the Midland Trail boys are hoping to leave their mark. The Patriots, the sixth seed in the Class A field, will confront No. 3 Tucker County at 9:30 a.m. today in one of four quarterfinal contests. To make inroads to advancing past the Mountain Lions and deeper into the tourney field (No. 2 Parkersburg Catholic or No. 7 Fayetteville would be up next on Friday), Midland Trail’s players say they have to do several things right in the school’s first state appearance in 13 years. “I feel like we can make some noise, and hopefully we can give Tucker County a competitive game,” said senior Noah Sparks. “We’ve been playing really good as a team. “Our inside guys have really stepped up. Coach told us Tucker is more guard-oriented, and I don’t think they’re overly big. We have to get out on their shooters.” Fellow senior starter Caleb Carte, who admitted Monday he’s “getting anxious,” said that, foremost, his team can’t do that Thursday. “First of all, we can’t get nervous,” he said. “And we need to limit our turnovers and play hard defense. “We think Tucker plays similar to us. They have really good passers and move the ball real well. We still don’t think we’ve reached our full potential. We think we’re peaking at the right time.” Senior Joey Fox, the team’s leading scorer, says, “I’m excited, with this being my last year. We had a chance my sophomore year (a narrow loss to Charleston Catholic in the region final).” Junior Kelly Minter hopes to make a splash to give the team’s seniors a good going-away present. “I didn’t expect us to (make it to the tournament), especially with all the close games we had,” he said. “Taking the seniors to Charleston is going to be a joy. They deserve it.” “Tucker is 18-1, so they’re a pretty good team,” he added. “They’re really athletic, really talented. “We shouldn’t have a size problem. We’ve got to box out, get our boards and play defense. If we do that, and if we make our free throws, we should have a good chance of winning.” Sophomore post player Casey Deskins says he has “high expectations” for his team this week. “I think we’ve had a really great season; I knew we were going to have a good team, with the seniors we had coming back. Kelly has been a surprise; he came up big for us. “The key for us will to not freak out. It’s a hard environment. If we can get rid of the jitters and play like we’re capable, I think we can beat them.” Trail coach Greg Crist says the Lions are indeed comparable to his team. “They look similar to us size-wise. They don’t have any huge people. Our matchups look pretty good. We’ve got a fighting chance.” Fox is the Patriots’ leading scorer with a 12.6 points per game average, in addition to pulling down 5.6 rebounds an outing, and he’s made 27 three-point goals on the year. Carte is averaging 10.9 points, and Minter is averaging 10.5 points and 6.8 boards. Deskins is scoring at a 6.4 clip and Sparks at 6.0. Sparks says Tucker’s tournament experience will no doubt be a factor, but he doesn’t count his team out. “Once you get out on the floor, it’s just basketball. I think we’ll be all right.” The Patriots will be facing a team, he added, that “looks solid and doesn’t make many mistakes. They’re patient on offense and play good man-to-man defense.” — E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com