The ADM boys basketball team is in the midst of a five-game skid, and the Tigers are finding out that life without Grant Goeden is more difficult than they anticipated.

Head coach Aaron Mager’s club is coming off what he termed a “discouraging loss” to the rival Perry Bluejays this past Tuesday, but ADM does have a golden opportunity to end its losing streak this evening as conference foe Boone visits Adel.

The Toreadors have not won in Raccoon River Conference play and have just one win on the season.  Coach Mager discusses what he sees in the Tigers’ opponent tonight.

“If you don’t take care of the basketball and you don’t shoot a very good field goal percentage, it is hard to win… and that’s kind of what I see out of Boone.  They work really hard, it looks like the effort is there, I think the belief and the buy-in are there, but there is some (lack of confidence).  When you’re losing games, that hurts your confidence.  So both of our teams… we need to find enough moxie and stick-with-it-ness so that we can make enough plays to win this game.”

One Tiger in particular who showed that “stick-with-it-ness” this past Tuesday was forward Joe Sloss, who has replaced the injured Goeden in ADM’s starting line-up.  Sloss has been struggling from the field for much of this season, but he had his best game yet against Perry, tallying nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.

“Joe I know, he and his family–his dad and his brothers–spent two days in the gym over the weekend trying to get the field goals dropping again, and that type of thing gets rewarded.  So I’m pretty happy with a lot of what we’re doing.”

He may be happy with some things the Tigers are doing, but Mager says ADM’s key tonight is to cut down on its collective mistakes that have recently cost the Tigers wins.  We’ll see if ADM can rectify those miscues tonight against Boone before the top-ranked Harlan Cyclones visit Adel tomorrow.

Pregame coverage of tonight’s ADM vs. Boone varsity doubleheader begins at 5:45 on K107.