Leading the way

December 09, 2010 Last Updated: December 09, 2010 01:31 PM High School

The Butler boys basketball team will be looking to Nate Snodgrass for leadership as the Golden Tornado work to get back to the WPIAL playoffs.

Experienced players will guide teams through season

Experienced players are good to have. Experienced leaders are even better.

Nate Snodgrass at Butler, Christian Durbin at Seneca Valley, Christian Locher at Mars, Kyle Armagost at Moniteau and Brian Giesler at Slippery Rock are such players in Butler County boys basketball this season.

Here is a look at the coming season:

Coach: Matt Clement, second yearLast Year: 16-5The Golden Tornado made the WPIAL playoffs in Clement's first year. The plan this year is to expand upon that success.“We've put together a tougher schedule. We want to challenge ourselves more this year,” Clement said. “We seemed to level off toward the end of last season.”Butler won its first 13 games last season before losing five of its final eight, including its first playoff game.Clement has two new assistant coaches, Jim Gallagher and Don Hilliard, to join returnee Ted Harris. Players Logan Renwick, Jeff Tompkins, Eli Christy, Cole Harvey and Brian Jendesky were lost to graduation.But the Tornado have plenty coming back, including junior point guard Nate Snodgrass (10.1 ppg., 5.1 apg.), senior post Bobby Swartwout (15.3 ppg., 6.8 rpg.) and senior guard Cody Herald.Seniors Bill Smith, Zach Slater and Vinny Schmidt will be counted on as well.“From an organizational standpoint, we're good,” Clement said. “Now we're just working at getting better on the floor.”Other players figuring to contribute include Jake Hilliard, Trevor Wideman, Cody West, Matt Baranchak and David Tompkins.“I think we can go deep off the bench and that's a plus, because we like to push the tempo,” Clement said.

Coach: Vic Giannotta, seventh seasonLast year: 7-13 overallGiannotta is hoping last season proves to be the exception and not the rule.The veteran coach watched his squad fall to 7-13 overall and miss the WPIAL Quad A playoffs for the first time in four years.“If we've got numbers in transition, that's one thing,” said Giannotta. “But our guys have to realize that basketball games are won and lost in the half court. We need to take care of the ball.”SV returns two starters: senior point guard Christian Durbin and junior shooting guard Alex Maxfield.Durbin, who will earn his fourth letter this season, averaged 18 points and 5.8 assists per game.“We start and end with Christian He's got the experience,” said Giannotta. “But we need to be the epitome of a team. No one person is bigger than the team.”The rest of SV's starting lineup could consist of senior center Beau Barclay and junior forwards Matt Smith and Austin Bream, though Giannotta admits, “That's not etched in stone.”

Coach: Josh Shoop, first yearLast Year: 9-12The Knights have a new coach. They also have a new team to go with him.Shoop replaces Chris Andreassi and has only one regular starter — senior forward Nathan Junk — back from last year. Senior guard Adam Seger started a few games a year ago.Otherwise, Knoch will have plenty of new faces.“We could go 13 to 15 deep,” Shoop said. “That's not necessarily a good thing because our guys are pretty much even from three through 15.”Seniors Seger, Ryan Schultheis and junior Alex Strezeski “are our best ball handlers” and are battling for the point guard position.Junk, juniors Jason Abel and Jack Boros are among the candidates at forward, along with senior Adam Tuzikow, sophomores Dakota Bruggeman and Marc Vaughan.“This team will be versatile,” Shoop said. “We'll run when we get the opportunity, but we want to be able to pound the ball in half court, too.”

Coach: Rob Carmody, 13th seasonLast year: 12-8 overallThe new season brings with it some good news and some bad news for the Planets.The bad news: Mars graduated five seniors, including guard Ian Hindley (15.6 points per game) and guard Luke Gruber, who led the team with nearly seven rebounds per contest.The good news: senior guard Christian Locher returns after recording 19.5 points and 47 3-pointers. He will be joined by returning starting point guard Brad Weischedel, the team leader in assists.Plus, Carmody is expecting the scoring behind Locher to be more varied.“I don't know if we're going to have a second kid score as much as (Hindley) did last year, but we should have more players scoring,” Carmody said. “We now have a number of different options.”They include senior forward Brandon Eckstein, senior guard Jake Lee, and sophomore guards Mitch Buzard and Garrett Ashbaugh.Mars also has height this year with senior center Andrew Moraca (6-feet-4), and sophomore centers Adam Bayuk (6-4) and Josh Goetz (6-6).Carmody doesn't believe team chemistry will be a problem with this group.“We have great kids and everybody feels included,” he said.

Coach: Garrie Davies, second yearLast Year: 15-3 overallGarrie Davies returned to the bench last season and saw his Yellowjackets go undefeated in winning the Section 1-AA title.That squad included Butler Eagle Player of the Year Darius Frantz (12.1 points, 10.9 rebounds, 7.0 blocks, 3.3 steals and 3.0 assists) and Alex Isenberg (10.7 ppg, 4.5 apg, 3.8 rpg and 2.3 apg), as well as Tyler Collins, Mitch Shaw and Nick Gentile, all seniors.“When you have people like that, it makes the learning process go faster,' said Davies, who will be joined on the bench by Mike Beale, Rich Macura and Seth Thompson.This season, senior guards Derek Durand and Shawn Liberto, and senior forwards Jake Campbell and Don Pastoria will be joined by sophomore guard Brendan Lynch to make up the team's starting lineup.“Derek is absorbing everything, and Shawn Liberto was our sixth man last year,” Davies said. “He's our point guard and he won a lot of games for us last year.“Jake is a returning letter winner. He's a renaissance kid. He does all sports and works so hard. Don Pastoria was our first big man off the bench last year.“I think they learned lessons last year. They were taught about the intensity of the playoffs,” Davies added.Look for Cody McClelland, Ryan Dunn, Sean Carson, Alex Carson, Kevin Keppel, Sean Carson, Alex Carson and Tyler Singer to log significant playing time as well.“A good team is having a second group pushing the first group,” Davies noted.The Yellowjackets will employ a strong defensive style in 2010-11.“That's our focus: a lot of defensive pressure,” Davies said. “We'll put a lot of emphasis on controlling your man.”

Coach: Randy Armagost, 10th yearLast Year: 12-13 (10-7)Experience is on the Warriors' side.Moniteau returns nine lettermen, including eight players who started at one time or another last year.“Most of these guys have been playing ball together for five or six years now,” Armagost said. “We can run the floor, play halfcourt, throw different looks at teams defensively.”Two full-time starters return: junior guard Kyle Armagost (17 ppg., 7.0 rpg., 7.6 apg.) and 6-3 senior center Zach Sloan (14.7 ppg., 13.1 rpg.).Sophomore Andrew Armagost, who saw time at the point guard, will start there this season,Included in that mix are forwards Jordan Smith and Joe Holifelder, guards Heath Lominski, Mitch Hunter, Dalton Shuler and Ethan Pry.“We have five really good guards who play hard,” Coach Armagost said. “We've got the capability of being able to handle the ball under pressure and seeing the floor.”

Coach: Phil Bushre, third yearLast Year: 9-13There are few teams that present bigger matchup problems than the Rockets.Brian Giesler is 6-4, but can step out and shoot 3-pointers as well as post up. Alec McDeavitt is small in stature, but Bushre believes he may be the best post player on the team. And then there is massive Caleb Whitney, who is 6-5 but has the quickness and the shooting touch of a guard.“We're going to present a lot of mismatches,” Bushre said.Slippery Rock is going to need all three, as well as emerging point guard Ryan Thompson, to get back to the playoffs out of a difficult region.Bushre, though, has his system in place.“Year three, you have a little bit more of a program starting,” Bushre said. “When you come in, you're kind of fighting the old ways.”Bushre's way is conditioning. His players won't be tired late in games from lack of running in practice. Last year, the Rockets lost a handful of games in the final minutes and overtimes.That was the difference between a nine-win season and a playoff spot.“They know it's going to take extra effort,” Bushre said. “They know it's going to take making free throws even when you are tired.”

Coach: Chris Bellis, second year.Last Year: 4-17Bellis has had a full year with his team. To him, that makes all the difference.“One thing I learned last year was it wasn't going to be an automatic fix. Things weren't just going to roll,” Bellis said. “I realized early on it was going to be a little harder than I thought.“The good thing now is, instead of having just a few months with these kids like I had last year, I've had a year and a half.”Bellis certainly took advantage of his time with the team. The Gremlins went to several shootouts and played in a summer and fall league to prepare for this season.“We were able to play a lot of basketball. That hopefully will get us some of these kids who don't have a lot of varsity experience, some experience.”Young players like junior Tucker Preston and sophomore Josh Wallace took advantage of the extra time and earned a chance for significant playing time.Seniors Brad Fuhrer and Jake Henry and junior Brandyn Bowser also will be a part of the rotation.“The big question marks we have is who is going to step in and score and who is going to play defense and rebound,” the coach said.

Coach: Art McCray, first yearLast Year: 9-12McCray might be in his first season, but has had a handle on the Knights program for years.McCray has been an assistant since 2001, having served under Bill Styche, Larry Washington and Clifford Guy.His take on this year's squad? Expect intensity and a defensive mindset.“It's the whole team. These guys have been lighting up the gym,” said McCray.The Knights got a jump on the season by playing in a fall league.“In the past we were not able to do that, and we have guys that will be staying here for the entire season,” said McCray. “The kids will benefit from it because they'll be able to play together instead of being here one or two weeks.”The Knights, who reached the WPIAL Class AA postseason last season, will have guards Arley Townsend, Richard Lacy and Mondre Tyler, along with forwards Rainford Miles and Tramayne Brooks, to round out the starting five.Throw in a deep bench, including forward Tevin Allison (10 points, 10 rebounds last season), and the Knights could make another push in the Section 2-AA race.“I think we're a lot more athletic,” said McCray. “One thing that could hurt us is experience, but we can sub five at a time. We are deeper than past teams. That's a plus for us.”

Coach: Don Fee, 20th yearLast Year: 16-7Fee pores over the roster and tries to fight off his snickers. He runs down each player and scoffs at their listed height.“If he's that tall, I'm 7-foot,” Fee says, laughing.Fee, though, has come to grips with the fact his team is as vertically challenged as any he has had.That, he says, will not be an excuse.“We're going to have to make a collective effort to rebound the basketball this season,” Fee said. “Rebounding is more about effort and going after it than it is so much about size.”While Grove City won't have much height, Fee said much of the time there will be five guards on the floor it is blessed with a bevy of shooters.Junior guard Torin Smith and his county-leading 54 3-pointers will be counted on as one of the snipers from long range. The Eagles do have Jordan Patterson, a 6-5 center, to lean on for inside points and to clog up the lane.But this will be a season in Grove City all about the smalls.“We have to be scrappy,” Fee said. “We're going to have to be one of those teams that scratch and claw and fight and that no one wants to play.”

Coach: Jim Marron, 11th seasonLast year: 21-3 overallThe Falcons lost a lot, but also have a good deal returning.The program graduated seven seniors, including forward Reed Terwilliger (12.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game) and lost starting forward Blayne McGuirk, who is focusing on baseball, from last year's team.But reigning KSAC MVP Allan Eaton returns, as does sixth man Logan Wetzel and Ryan Bartley.Eaton, now a senior, averaged 19.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per contest.“He's got a good outside shot for a kid his size (6-6),” Marron said. “He creates a lot of matchup problems for other teams.”Wetzel will move into a starting role at shooting guard, and Bartley will play both guard and forward.Brody Irwin scored 17 points as a freshman and will play point guard.Rounding out the starting lineup will be sophomore guard Landon Delisio.“Last year, we had all five starters back,” said Marron. “This year, we've got just one. But we can still contend.”

Coach: Karen Davis, eighth yearLast Year: 15-8How do you replace your school's all-time leading scorer?Davis and the Golden Knights will find out.The departure of Scott Booth (23.3 points, 8.3 rebounds per game), plus Logan Mortimer (9.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.5 apg) and Zac Smith (7.6 ppg, 4.6 apg), leaves quite a void, but Davis still has a solid core of veterans.“That's a big three, but we have some good ones coming up,” Davis said.Forwards Brody Pollock (9.3 ppg), Trent Corle and Chase Johnston will be joined by guards Taylor Smith (8.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and Shawn Booth in the starting lineup. Swingmen Austin Davis and Shawn Burns and guard Derek Shirey also will log in plenty of minutes.Davis is also optimistic about 6-5 senior forward-center Brandon Hill, who comes from New York, and sophomore guard Aaron Graham.“Brandon is learning a new system and it takes time,” Davis noted.Davis will count on the team's defensive nature to make up for last year's graduation losses.“I hope our defense worked hard over the summer,” Davis said. “We hope to create turnover to offset the scoring we lost.”