Midwest City boys putting it together

When I saw Midwest City’s boys basketball team back in December, it was pretty clear that they were missing Xavier McClish and Kendall Parks, last year’s two seniors who were key parts of the system as players and leaders.

So I wondered if these Bombers would be able to get back to the same level, despite having a ton of talent and a deep bench.

But coach Dewayne Bradley pointed out back in December that McClish and Parks were basketball-only kids, and they were in the gym all year. So when football ended, and the Colbert twins and Greg Austin joined the mix, the leadership was already established.

This year, it’s Cortrez and Cortrael Colbert, along with Austin, who are the leaders, so the team got a late start in working out the chemistry with its top players in the fold.

Watching the Bombers in Tuesday night’s 65-49 win over a red-hot Norman team, you could see that this team is getting everything in order.

The Big Three have meshed well with freshman Omega Harris, who looks like he’s going to be an assist machine. And a lot of players can fill the fifth spot or come off the bench and offer some production.

Defensively, the Bombers were racking up steals and turning them into easy layups all night long. And in the first half, they had the 3-point shots falling — 6-of-10 before halftime — so it was easy work.

Despite all the steals, the Bombers weren’t necessarily happy with their total defensive performance. When Norman got into its half-court game, it found ways to score, using a lot of different people to do it.

But you can tell that MWC is getting the pieces in place to try and make another run at the gold ball.