Westbrook boys’ basketball is one of the top teams in the Shoreline Conference and Cade Muckle is one of the biggest reasons behind that.

After growing up in a big basketball family, the senior captain guard decided to continue the hoops tradition by playing for the Knights. Despite Westbrook’s injured players this year—including big-time scorer Faruk Cecunjanin—Cade and the Knights own a record of 18-1 with Cade averaging 24.8 points per game since Cecunjanin has been out of the lineup.

“I attribute a lot of my scoring success to my teammates around me. They give me the opportunity to score and, more importantly, help our team win,” says Cade. “Faruk was our leading scorer at the time of his injury so I thought we just had to find other ways to win. It doesn’t matter what role I play. I just want us to win.”

One role Cade has taken on is as a leader by helping the Knights stay tight through the season’s grind as he feels victories start with camaraderie on and off the floor.

“I try to tell everyone to stay strong as a team and to not let us beat ourselves,” Cade says. “I try to make sure we stay together through thick and thin. You need to have good chemistry both in and out of the games in order to get the wins.”

Head Coach Jeff Beeman says that Cade has strengthened not only the club’s odds of prevailing, but also his own chances of taking his talent to the next level.

“Since the injury to Faruk, he has taken on a more prominent role both off the court and on the court in all aspects of the game,” says Beeman. “He is a deceptively strong and crafty scorer who has matured and developed over his last three years into an excellent high school basketball player that could play at the Division III level somewhere.”

A standout showing for Cade came on Feb. 7 during a win at Hyde that saw him collect 29 points while fellow senior Sam Grigo was out with an illness and Jordan Bernard was nursing a bad hamstring.

“I went out there and tried to do the best that I could and my shot was just falling,” says Cade, who also totaled eight rebounds, four steals, and six blocks that evening. “Leading this team has been the best experience I’ve had with any sport in my life. I look forward to practice and working with these guys every day.”

Running a tight ship with his physical fitness, Cade’s swiftness in delivering the ball helps him get a leg up on his foes.

“I try to get into the gym at least five times a week during the summer and my speed has also helped me a little bit,” Cade says. “I am also throwing my passes quicker and the speed also helps me get a step ahead of the guy guarding me.”

Cade says he prefers to score by dropping the rock without a moment’s notice to the defense.

“I honestly like scoring with floaters a lot because I am able to get more of an arc on the ball and get it over people easier,” says Cade, who thanks his father Joseph, along with the entire Knights’ coaching staff. “We have a couple of tough games coming up so we will try to keep doing what we have been all season long.”