By Anvil Welch

awelch@joplinglobe.com

Rod Wescott didn’t make major changes in his first season as boys basketball coach at Girard High School.

That likely was a strength working with the veteran-dominated Trojans.

Wescott, picking up where Zach Martin left off, piloted Girard to second place in the Kansas Class 4A Tournament.

Also, the Trojans, 24-2 overall, upheld their preseason prediction in the CNC League by reigning at 8-0.

Martin, of course, took the boys position at Riverton as well as assistant principal.

“We changed things up a little bit,” Wescott, who moved from Class 2A Arma Northeast, said. “The players bought into it.

“We had a great season,” Wescott said. “The people in the community and the administration were great. The players were very respectful toward me.

“Those guys (the Trojans) had played a lot of basketball,” Wescott said. “It was a lot of fun.

“One more victory would have been icing on the cake,” Wescott said.

But Basehor-Linwood slipped past Girard 53-48 in the Class 4A championship game in the Bicentennial Center at Salina.

“Basehor-Linwood just continued to get better and better during the season and peaked at the right time with a young team,” Wescott said. “They did a lot of the little things right which is what coaches like to see.”

Wescott, The Globe’s Coach of the Year for 2008-09, was blessed with senior starters — 6-foot-3 J.D. Heatherly, 6-2 Darian Kelly, 6-6 Tanner Poppe, 5-10 Eric Strukel and 5-9 Taylor Woods.

Johnny Webb, a 5-10 senior, wound up as the No. 1 sub, Wescott said. He also called on 6-3 junior Gannon Bauer, 6-0 junior Logan Cherry and 6-0 sophomore Reid Murphy.