The 2019-20 basketball season at Hopkins County Central did not start the way new head coach Michael Fraliex would have liked.
Early-season injuries short-circuited any plans the Storm had to get off to a hot start.
Instead, Hopkins Central endured 13 straight losses to open the year before righting the ship.
However, after getting its initial win on Jan. 10 at Fort Campbell, 51-41, the Storm went 8-8 over the final half of the season.
The highlight of the season came during one seven-game stretch from Jan. 16-Feb. 7 where the Storm won six of seven outings.
Hopkins Central fell to Caldwell County 70-52 in the semifinals of the 7th District tournament, but the turnaround late in the season builds some groundwork going into 2020-21.
Still, the Storm will graduate its top three scorers from this year — Sam Almon (11.0 ppg), Johntize Miller (10.1) and Blasin Moore (9.4).
Freshman guard Marcus Eaves was next at 8.3 points a game and and should anchor the backcourt for the Storm for the coming years.
In addition, junior forward Adrian Stringer is scheduled to return last year. Stringer scored 10.0 points a game and led the Storm with 8.2 rebounds a contest as a sophomore in 2018-19. However, Stringer played in only four games this past season because of an injury.
Fraliex is high on his younger classes, and feels it’s just a matter of time before Hopkins County Central emerges as a contender on both the district and regional levels.
Whether that’s next season, or maybe a couple of years down the road, remains to be seen. But Hopkins Central has huge numbers in its program overall.
