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Independence, MO —
It was about this time a year ago that the Fort Osage boys basketball team reached a critical crossroads.
The date was Jan. 20, 2012. After entering the season with expectations as high as they’d been in years, coach Josh Wilson’s team stumbled to a 6-9 start. Then, the Indians hit rock bottom as they suffered a humiliating 61-42 home loss to Winnetonka.
“That’s the worst game we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Wilson said. “I felt like it was the attitude. Nothing else.”
That was also the night Wilson straight up called out his squad. The core of that group included then juniors like D’Vante Mosby, Zach Adams and Austin Regier, who have played varsity since they were freshmen. Even with all their experience, they registered just 12 total wins through their freshman and sophomore seasons. Before the start of the season, Wilson pointed out how little they’d actually accomplished.
Now it was time to find out if they could ever reach their potential. It was time for the program to sink or sail.
“I said, ‘Fellas, I feel like I’ve been doing my job good enough,’” Wilson said. “‘Starting right now, I’m not going to let us lose. Every game we’re going to be in it, we’re going to be going hard, we’re going to have chances to win at the end.’”
In the days following the defeat to the Griffins, the Indians talked about focusing only on what they could control. They needed to turn the ball over less, pull down more rebounds, play more efficiently. In their next four games they showed modest improvement and picked up wins over Raytown, Belton and William Chrisman and took a 66-62 loss to Park Hill South.
Then, on Feb. 7, Fort finally turned the corner. That was the night the Indians pulled out a 48-43 win at Raytown South – their first triumph over the Cardinals since 1995. As Wilson entered the locker room he encountered one ecstatic player after another. Amid all the delirious chaos, Mosby grabbed a marker and wrote two big letters on the board: “US.”
A mantra was born.
“There’s one thing and basically only one thing you can control,” Mosby said, “that’s yourself and your team. No one can control what’s going on outside. You can only control your effort and how you handle certain things.”
After the Winnetonka loss, the Indians rolled to eight wins in their next 11 games and captured the program’s first district championship.
It was about this time a year ago that the Fort Osage boys basketball team reached a critical crossroads.
The date was Jan. 20, 2012. After entering the season with expectations as high as they’d been in years, coach Josh Wilson’s team stumbled to a 6-9 start. Then, the Indians hit rock bottom as they suffered a humiliating 61-42 home loss to Winnetonka.
“That’s the worst game we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Wilson said. “I felt like it was the attitude. Nothing else.”
That was also the night Wilson straight up called out his squad. The core of that group included then juniors like D’Vante Mosby, Zach Adams and Austin Regier, who have played varsity since they were freshmen. Even with all their experience, they registered just 12 total wins through their freshman and sophomore seasons. Before the start of the season, Wilson pointed out how little they’d actually accomplished.
Now it was time to find out if they could ever reach their potential. It was time for the program to sink or sail.
“I said, ‘Fellas, I feel like I’ve been doing my job good enough,’” Wilson said. “‘Starting right now, I’m not going to let us lose. Every game we’re going to be in it, we’re going to be going hard, we’re going to have chances to win at the end.’”
In the days following the defeat to the Griffins, the Indians talked about focusing only on what they could control. They needed to turn the ball over less, pull down more rebounds, play more efficiently. In their next four games they showed modest improvement and picked up wins over Raytown, Belton and William Chrisman and took a 66-62 loss to Park Hill South.
Then, on Feb. 7, Fort finally turned the corner. That was the night the Indians pulled out a 48-43 win at Raytown South – their first triumph over the Cardinals since 1995. As Wilson entered the locker room he encountered one ecstatic player after another. Amid all the delirious chaos, Mosby grabbed a marker and wrote two big letters on the board: “US.”
A mantra was born.
“There’s one thing and basically only one thing you can control,” Mosby said, “that’s yourself and your team. No one can control what’s going on outside. You can only control your effort and how you handle certain things.”
After the Winnetonka loss, the Indians rolled to eight wins in their next 11 games and captured the program’s first district championship.
That motto has carried over into this season as Fort is off to a 10-4 start. The Indians have also won their first three Middle Seven games as they seek their first conference crown since 1970 and first winning season since 1974.
The Indians won’t quit harping about the concept of “us.” It’s printed in bold letters on their warm-up T-shirts and has manifested itself in everything they do.
“It’s about everybody giving their all for each other,” Regier said. “Our freshman and sophomore years it was, ‘Let me see what I can do out there.’ The us thing is totally opposite. It’s completely about what can I do to make my teammates better.”
At the heart of the turnaround has been Fort’s senior trio of Mosby, Adams and Regier.
Mosby’s always been the Indians’ emotional leader and this year he’s averaging 11.6 points per game and 7.4 rebounds while drawing constant double teams. Adams, 6-foot-7, gives Fort another interior scoring option (10.6 ppg) while Regier typically draws the toughest defensive assignment and still shoots better than 40 percent from behind the arc and posts 10.5 ppg.
A cast of role players has also emerged to make solid contributions. Sophomore Will Penamon has taken over starting point guard duties since two-year starter Brian Starr left the team. Freshman Skylar Thompson has been a scoring spark plug since tallying 17 points in a 70-62 loss to Lee’s Summit West in the William Jewell Holiday Classic and junior forward Nathan Iloilo poured in 17 points in last week’s 74-59 defeat to St. Joseph Lafayette. Sophomore Aron Greer and senior Marc Crowley have also appeared in every game and give Wilson added depth.
A year ago, Wilson’s program teetered on the brink of disaster. Now, the Indians talk of hanging banners that haven’t been raised in these parts for decades. And they work to build a foundation that will last well after this year’s seniors depart.
“There are guys like Skylar and Aron Greer who after we’re done are going to be able to continue our legacy,” Regier said. “We didn’t want to just come in here as a strong group of seniors and have everyone think, ‘Oh, they were good for about three years.’
“That’s not the point. We want to be able to continue it. It’s about us passing it on and creating a culture of winning.”
