<table> </table> Steve Scroggins talks like any other high school basketball coach.</p><p>Inside the empty gymnasium at Don Bosco Charter High School, Scroggins pulls up a chair and goes on and on about the bad breaks down in Lawson or over in Springfield. His squad plays bigger teams, sure, but his Don Bosco Wolves should win those games.</p><p>&#8220;We lost some heartbreakers, I&#8217;ll tell you,&#8221; Scroggins says, nervously tapping his hand weighted down by three football conference championship rings. &#8220;We just can&#8217;t seem to get that winning basket.&#8221;</p><p>Scroggins worries about his boys jelling before today&#8217;s Missouri Class 3, District 15 playoff game at Higginsville. After all, he lost his top player because of ineligibility and never played a home game this season &#8212; the sorts of things that should matter to a high school coach. He seems to care, too.</p><p>You almost believe him when he sighs about poor free-throw shooting, but while he&#8217;s talking, tears well up in his eyes. And high school basketball coaches usually don&#8217;t cry over missed free throws.</p><p>As hard as Scroggins tries to focus on basketball details, he forces a weak smile and finally admits that he has another doctor&#8217;s appointment coming up. This time, doctors are planning to remove more cancerous polyps from his colon. As the topic turns from basketball and becomes more difficult, Scroggins&#8217; answers become brief.</p><p>&#8220;You have to talk about it,&#8221; Scroggins says. &#8220;You can&#8217;t hide it. It&#8217;s a part of life&#8221;</p><p>Scroggins has coached 31 years, including this season as the Don Bosco boys basketball coach. He celebrated his 50th birthday last August. When he was 16, Scroggins lost his father to colon cancer. So, throughout his adult life, he has visited a doctor to monitor his health.</p><p>Only his grayish sideburns reveal his true age. He was fit enough to play organized football until he was 48. And he returned kickoffs, no less. Friends tease him as being the Bionic Man. But last month during a routine checkup, Scroggins learned he had colon cancer. And he was scared. So he decided to worry about basketball instead.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to bring a lot of attention to my health, I just want attention to this team and the school,&#8221; Scroggins says. &#8220;The team has stuck together and not given up. A lot of teams right now would&#8217;ve thrown in the towel, (but) I don&#8217;t believe in that.&#8221;</p><p>&#8226;&#8226;&#8226;</p><p>It&#8217;s not as if Don Bosco players needed more bad news. On Jan. 22, Scroggins stood alone in the back corner of the gym, staring out a window. This was going to be hard. Just the previous week Scroggins informed players that senior Tyrone Hooker was no longer on the team. Now, he had something else to tell them.</p><p>Hooker enrolled at Don Bosco as a junior in the fall of 2006. Three years after he started high school. Hooker had the size, 6 feet 5, and the game to match, averaging 35 points a game. Sometimes he played so well that people believed he was older than he claimed.</p><p>That belief persisted.</p><p>&#8220;There was speculation and spoken words about the topic. A few people mentioned a few things,&#8221; Don Bosco assistant principal Randy Noud said. &#8220;You hear from different angles, and you just have to research what you hear.&#8221;</p><p>Hooker attended Westport as a freshman, and &#8212; according to school records &#8212; he enrolled during the 2003-04 school year. His playing eligibility should have concluded after his first season at Don Bosco, but Hooker continued playing at the start of the 2007-08 season.