NEW KENSINGTON — Art McCray got his first taste of college basketball playing at Penn State-New Kensington.

Now, he’ll be heading back, this time as the head coach.

McCray, the basketball coach at Summit Academy the past three seasons, was recently announced as the team’s new coach, taking over for interim coach Joe Mandak.

“Mr. (John) McCloud, Mr. (Steve) Sherer, Cliff Guy, Sam Costanzo (Summit’s athletic director, school director, counselor and founder/chief executive director of the Academy schools, respectively) brought in new faces every year and they became a team,” McCray said. “That helped me be successful at Summit Academy.

“Now, I’ll be bringing new guys to blend,” he added.

McCray intends to use the knowledge he’s gained from his coaches along the way and incorporate that, just as he did at Summit.

McCray graduated from Chartiers Valley in 1994, having played for Colts coach Tim McConnell’s first team, then played for Paul Holzshu (now at Shaler) and Lance Maha (now at West Mifflin) while at PSNK.

He helped the Lions to two conference championships in 1996 and 1997 while leading the team in rebounding and blocked shots.

“I watched how they prepared in the offseason and watching them go through practices and the pregame meals, making sure they crossed every ‘t’ and dotted every ‘i.’

“There was never a game they second-guessed themselves, but they were also humble enough to realize when to make adjustments on the fly.”

McCray would move on to play one year at Lock Haven, then went to Penn State’s main campus to complete his bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation sciences and tried to walk on to the team.

Jerry Dunn, then the coach at Penn State, pulled only McCray out of a group of 35-40 hopeful players and invited him up to the office.

“He said he’d like for me to participate but unfortunately, due to my inexperience in the transfer process, I was unable to play and it was my last year of eligibility.”

Ironically, McCray almost didn’t play for PSNK. He was set to play at Penn State-McKeesport, but the basketball program was dropped.

That led him to New Kensington — and now, he’s headed back.

“Coach Holzshu welcomed me and the rest is history,” said McCray. “We were very successful and had a great team and great players. We had a sense of togetherness and I can’t recall one season where we did not have that.”“I was always peeking in the gym, watching from afar,” said McCray, who will still keep his position at Summit Academy as a supervisor and assistant to the principal.

McCray, 36, who lives in Apollo enjoyed much success in his three seasons with the Knights, including a pair of section titles.

In 2010-11, the team went 17-10 overall and 10-2 in the section. The Knights picked up two WPIAL playoff wins to reach the Class AA quarterfinals and earned a state playoff win, as well.

The following year, the Knights went 17-5 overall and 11-1 in the section for its second consecutive Section 2-AA crown.

Last season, the team moved to a new section and dropped to 5-16 overall, 2-8 in the section.

As usual, the Knights have a different roster every year, something McCray won’t have to do every year at Penn State-New Kensington.