The 2023-24 basketball season was a very successful one for the Boone Central boys basketball team ... and a disappointment.

A seeming contradiction, certainly. When you add up the pluses and minuses of the campaign, however, it shows both can indeed be true for the Cardinals.

A 17-7 overall record in Coach Corey Thome’s first year at the helm of the good ship Boone Central is definite succes and should not be taken for granted. A 1-1 sub-district performance, on the other hand, was a huge disappointment for a veteran squad that had goals of a positive postseason run to district finals and the state tournament.

The Cardinals were just a handful of plays - and points - short of enhancing their 17-7 mark. Boone dropped its first two games of the season - by a total of four points after very little practice time due to the majority of players being members of the Boone Central football team that won the C1 state championship barely a week prior to basketball’s tipoff. Boone would later avenge the one-point loss to Cedar Catholic with a 13-point Mid-State Conference Tournament victory over the Trojans.

Boone Central lost two games by fairly substantial margins (22 and 8 points) to Class C2 Top 10 state qualifier Norfolk Catholic, but its other three defeats were by two points at O’Neill, two points to Class B Northwest and a single digit to Battle Creek in the sub-district final. All losses are disappointing, but the three that probably sting most were to O’Neill (after leading at halftime), Northwest (just 8-15 in 202324) and, of course, to a Battle Creek (11-12) team Boone had defeated 29 days earlier.

On the flip side, the Cardinals had some very impressive wins. Among the best were defeating Adams Central (19-5) in the holiday tournament championship clash (on the Patriots’ home floor), topping 21-6 Mid-State foe Wayne and dispatching Cedar Catholic (19-6) in the conference tourney.

Over the course of the campaign, Boone Central established itself as a consistently superior defensive team, allowing opponents just 40.1 points per game and limiting foes to 31.6% field goal accuracy (just 37% from 2-point range).

The Cardinals outscored their opposition 52-40, but the results on the offensive end of the court were never as consistent as the defense. Boone scored over 59 points in just four games, dipped below 50 six times, and scraped bottom in a 38-16 loss to Norfolk Catholic. BC sank only 27.2% of its 3-point attempts while hitting 52.2% from 2-point range. Since Boone averaged approximately 30 2-point shots and 16 3-point tries per game, that disparity was a definate deterrent to consistent point production. The Cardinals also were below average at the free throw line (54.7%).

Boone held a sizeable edge on the boards, outreboudning its opponents 32.8-24.7. The Cards also had an advantage in assists per game (12.1-7.6) while being almost exactly even in turnovers.

This was a Boone Central team that shared the wealth in the scoring column, with no Cardinal averaging double figures.

B 7th-8th: 100-108 - Bentley Stuhr (1-2); 121-133 - Blue Zoucha

(3-0, 1st); 139-48 - Colton Juzenas

(2-2, 4th); 151-169 - Carter Lueken

(3-1, 3rd); 151-168 - Korbin Predmore (0-2); 215-250 - Griffin Cunningham (0-3, 4th)

G 7th-8th: 121-133 - Leiahola Barnes (3-0, 1st).