All the right moves
First-year Alma senior makes himself at home, rubs off on new teammates
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
ALMA — The first thing Shepherd Newcomb did when he walked into Charles B. Dyer Arena was to take it all in.
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is really nice.’ This is something you don’t see at the high school level,” Newcomb said. “It’s such a nice gym.”
And then, as if on cue, the kid everyone calls ‘Shep’ picked up a basketball and started shooting.
But shooting and scoring, which is something Newcomb seems to do with ease, isn’t the only thing his teammates have come to expect.
“He’ll be looking right at Lawson (Adams), and he’ll hit me,” kids junior Luke Stogsdill. “You have to always keep your hands up in the air, or you’ll get hit in the face.”
Through his first dozen games, Newcomb wasn’t only averaging 22.3 points per game, but also dishing out 5.4 assists per game.
“There’s been a few passes that caught me off guard that I wasn’t expecting that were really good,” Adams said. “It helps you learn more about what you can be doing and what you will be doing.”
A West Fork native, Newcomb decided to transfer from Ozark Catholic after three years to Alma — following in the footsteps of first-year Airedale basketball coach Cody Vaught.
“This is an excellent group of guys,” Newcomb said. “They took me in on the first day I was here. There haven’t been any hard feelings at all. I think on a lot of other teams, there may have been some, with me coming with the coach. Sometimes, that’s a bad reputation to come with a coach and start. But with this team, I think that really speaks to them as a team; they’re terrific kids.”
A Clarksville native, Vaught said he jumped at the chance to coach the Airedales following the resignation of Dominic Lincoln last spring. And, like Newcomb, he wasn’t surprised at how well the Airedales embraced their new teammate.
“Some people wouldn’t be that way, so it starts with our kids being good kids,” Vaught said. “Secondly, and most importantly, Shep is one of the most humble people I’ve ever met. He never acts like he’s above anyone else, nor does he work harder than anyone else, and he doesn’t expect to be treated any differently. You factor both of those together, and it’s been a great marriage for our program.”
“He’s an easy guy to get along with and helps everyone get better,” Adams said. “He’s a great person and fun to be around.”
Newcomb’s work ethic has rubbed off on his teammates.
“Seeing him come in early and shoot, that’s really motivated me,” Stogsdill said. “At the start of last year, I wasn’t the best shooter … I was more of a driver. Seeing him come in early and get shots up really encouraged me to get shots up. I’ve improved my 3-point shooting this year. I have the highest percentage of my career. His hard work and mentality have really encouraged me.”
Stogsdill is shooting 47 percent (18-of-38) from the 3-point line and is third (9.5) in scoring.
New digs
As for the new team and the new digs, Newcomb’s taking it all in stride. His old school, Ozark Catholic, didn’t even have a home gym.
“It’s a lot different,” Newcomb said. “I think the people around here care a lot about sports, obviously, because the facilities are really nice. It motivates me to play really hard. A lot of people come to the games; a lot of people care about sports here. If I do my part, hopefully they’ll (players) do their part during the game.”
Newcomb downplayed the size of Charles B. Dyer Arena, too, noting that the free-throw line and 3-point line are the same as in other gyms.
“Absolutely,” he said. “The free-throw line is 15 feet, and the 3-point line is 19 feet. I think the ball is always going in, no matter what gym I’m in. I’ve heard it’s hard to shoot here, but personally, I like it a lot.
“It looks cool, too.”
3,000 points?
In a perfect world, Newcomb and the Airedales would play as many games as smaller classification schools, allowing the team’s top scorer to add to his incredible scoring numbers.
Through Dec. 16, Newcomb had amassed 2,264 career points.
To reach 3,000, he would have to average almost 40 points a game.
Out of the question? Probably.
“The records don’t really mean too much to me,” Newcomb said. “I don’t care about personal records. I’m happy to have them, obviously, and it’s great for the people celebrating with me. But personally, I just want to win basketball games. I don’t care if I have zero points or 50 points, I’m just trying to win basketball games.”
Newcomb’s other numbers aren’t bad, either. In addition to 22.3 points per game and the 5.4 dimes, he’s also pulling down 5 ½ rebounds and getting 2.3 steals per game.
He recently eclipsed 300 3-pointers for his career (304), too, which is good enough for sixth all-time.
“I know the way I prepare; I know they’re going to come,” Newcomb said. “I know how hard I work. But at the end of the day, I’m just trying to win basketball games everywhere I go.”
“What makes Shep so special is that he doesn’t care about individual awards,” Vaught said. “When I asked him before the season if he knew how close he was to 2,000 points, he had no idea. He just wants to help his team win each night.
“He is one of the most humble human beings I have ever met.”
Early success
The Airedales, who started the season 9-4, feel like they could be 11-2, or even better, following tough road losses to Ozark (63-60) and Sapulpa, Okla. (54-49). The Airedales have only lost one time by more than five points, and that was to one of the top 6A-West teams, Bentonville West, who led wire-to-wire in an 84-62 win on Dec. 5.
The Airedales were picked to finish seventh in the 5A-West this season.
“I think we like being the underdog,” Newcomb said. “I don’t think this team has a ton of expectations. We come into every game as the underdog, and we like that. I think that helps us play harder. We’re going to have that chip on our shoulder throughout the season.
“We’re always going to have that underdog mentality.”
“Every game we’ve played, in my opinion, is a game that could have gone either way,” Vaught said. “Almost every team we’ve played has been very senior-heavy.”