Duane Ticknor, a minor-league coaching veteran who led the Dakota Wizards to back-to-back playoff appearances from 2007 to ’09, will be the next head coach of the Mad Ants.The army of Ants continues to dwindle.
Just as Mad Ants coach Joey Meyer was getting used to the fact that he’ll be without the team’s leading scorer and one of the leading rebounders on a three-game D-League road trip that opens tonight in Austin, Texas, along came another announcement to challenge his resolve.
“Now A.K. (Anthony Kent) just got the flu, so he’s not coming on the trip,” Meyer said. “We are a little thin in the post position right now. (Rob) Kurz, (Sean) Sonderleiter and (Jamelle) Cornley are our three bigs right now, and that might be a stretch calling Cornley (6-foot-5) a big.”
Meyer said he received a call Monday night from trainer Mark Schlichtenmyer that the 6-11 Kent, who averages 20 minutes, 4 points and 4 rebounds per game, was sick.
Kent became the third player left behind as the team boarded the plane for Austin.
The remaining members will then travel to East Conference-leading Iowa for games Friday and Saturday.
Already the Mad Ants (9-13) will be without leading scorer Ron Howard and second-leading rebounder Jared Reiner.
Howard, who averages 22 points per game, suffered a fractured left hand and is expected to be out about a month, and Reiner, who averages 10.5 rebounds and 15.5 points, is out with a sore back. He is day-to-day.
“It’s tough,” Meyer said. “We’ve had to make a lot of adjustments. We’ve gone from small ball to big ball to small ball. It’s changed our style and our philosophy from game to game. But teams go through that, and we’ve got to find a way.”
Already the Ants are 8 1/2 games behind the Iowa Energy – a team they have not beaten in four tries so far this season.
With the loss of Howard, the 6-9 Kurz becomes the team’s leading scorer with his 17.6 average. Guards Oliver Lafayette and Kyle McAlarney are the only others in double figures with 14.4 and 11.4 averages, respectively.
