Senior Spotlight: Colby Bushue

For someone who averaged eight points per game as a junior, to be averaging just 6.36 points per game through the first 11 games of the next season is an obvious disappointment.

Raising that average to 8.57 in three games, however, can give a boost to any senior’s confidence.

Enter Colby Bushue, a shifty guard from South Central, who appears to have gotten himself going offensively during the final two days of last week's Vandalia Holiday Tournament by scoring 15.7 points per game.

Now, he is primed to have a strong second half for the second straight season.

“I believe he is,” said coach Rick Simmons. “He has been hampered a little bit by an ankle, but a lot of it was the mental part of it. It’s one of those where you have to have a little bit of disappointment to understand how to handle the adversity. He’s had, and is now past, it.”

Bushue agreed.

“I was lacking confidence,” he said. “I was averaging about seven points a game, but I came out, got to the basket and starting hitting some shots (at the VHT).”

Last season, Bushue blossomed in the second half of the season, specifically the final eight games, when he led the team in scoring four times and averaged more than 11 points per game.

This season, he hopes he can contribute in a big way, while helping the Cougars better their current 2-12 record along the way.

“I’ll have to keep on doing what I’m doing, since I have it figured out,” Bushue said. “If we can get a couple more people scoring, we’ll do well.”

Simmons said a lot of how much other players can score starts with Bushue.

As one of the primary ball handlers, it is expected that Bushue will often be looking to pass, as opposed to driving into the paint, though Bushue is decent inside for being just 5-foot-8.

The problem came early this season when Bushue’s shots were not falling, allowing defenses to focus less on him and more on the Cougars’ post players.

When Bushue scores, however, he becomes someone the defense must cover, therefore loosening up some of the double teams his teammates have faced.

“It’s going to make a big difference,” Simmons said. “The more offensive weapons we have out there, the more threats we give to our opponents, and the more people get involved.

“With him being a reliable threat from outside, it will open some things for (leading scorer Fischer Tharp),” he said.

Bushue’s next chance to push his scoring average up will come on Friday at Webber, but no matter how high his scoring average rises, he won’t be playing basketball in college.

Instead, he will joining Kaskaskia College’s baseball team as a second baseman, while also pursuing one of the most challenging majors out there – mechanical engineering.

He is ranked among the top five in his graduating class, with better than a 4.0 grade-point average, so there is no reason to question his academic goals.

Hopefully, though, he won’t be lacking confidence in the classroom and need a boost in the middle of his senior year.