Coaches seek new challenges

December 10, 2009 Last Updated: December 11, 2009 01:24 PM High School

Jake McTighe scored 13.5 points per game for Knoch last season as a junior and looks to build on that number in 2009-10.

Three first-year head coaches, three unique story lines.

Matt Clement at Butler, Garrie Davies at Freeport and Chris Bellis at Karns City are first-year head coaches of their respective boys basketball programs.

None of the three lack experience.

Clement was a stellar basketball player at Butler who turned down a Division I scholarship offer to pursue a major-league baseball career.

Davies was a highly successful boys coach at Freeport who retired a number of years ago for health reasons at the time. Now he's back.

Bellis was a successful girls basketball coach at Karns City who is trying his luck with the boys program.

Here is a preview of the coming season in Butler County area boys basketball:

Coach: Matt Clement, first yearLast Year: 7-14Hard work holds the key for the Golden Tornado under Clement."When you're at the bottom of the section and have to climb every rung of the ladder to get to the top, there's no room for predictions," Clement said. "We'd have to break the season down game by game, quarter by quarter, possession by possession."My only goal is that we use up every ounce of energy and every piece of sweat when we're on the court. That's what gives you the chance to win games."Shooting guard Logan Renwick, point guard Nate Snodgrass and center Bobby Swartwout will start for the Tornado. Other key forwards include Jeff Tompkins and Brian Jendesky, with guard depth coming from Cole Harvey, Cody Herald and Vinny Schmidt.Eli Christy and Jeff Tompkins round out the top 10 for Butler."We want to play full-court, man-to-man pressure," Clement said. "If a team's going to play that style, it either has to have incredible athletes or a lot of guys."Play the same five guys all the time and they're going to be burned out by Jan. 20. We're going to use a lot of players. That's what a team is all about. Go to the bench, somebody's got your back."Swartwout led the Tornado with 12 points per game, and Schmidt and Snodgrass combined to sink 32 3-pointers a year ago."The only thing I can promise is that we'll work hard," Clement said. "The guys know I'm serious about that because I keep drumming it into them every day."

Coach: Garrie Davies, first yearLast Year: 9-13Davies, who had coached the team for 21 years, the final one in 2003-04, returns to the Yellowjackets' bench after a five-year break and inherits a group of seniors that he believes will take the squad where it needs to go.Four of the team's five seniors, guards Alex Isenberg (12.1 ppg, 35 3-pointers), Tyler Collins and Nick Gentile (28 3-pointers), and forward Darius Frantz, plus junior guard Jake Campbell, round out the starting five."The seniors will set the tone and leadership," Davies said.Two other players, senior Mitch Shaw and junior Derek Durand, who were big contributors last season, are recovering from injuries suffered during football season and are due back sometime in January.The team was on the short side of some tough losses last season, something that might reverse this year."I think they see they can hold their own," said Davies. "We've had a couple of scrimmages and the kids have been coming through."I think what's established is a good work ethic. All the seniors did something all summer, then played football, soccer, cross country, then basketball all day," he added.Davies also is impressed by the character his players have shown."I've had most of these players as students and they're respectful kids," said Davies. "After the first practice, they came up and we're thanking me for working them out."It's an upbeat atmosphere. We've had lively practices and everyone seems highly motivated," Davies added.

Coach: Chris Andreassi, fourth yearLast Year: 9-12Versatility will be the key to the Knights' fortunes."We want to push the ball and pressure defensively," Andreassi said. "But to be a good, quality playoff basketball team, you need the versatility to play both ways. We're working on our ability to play a half-court style as well."Knoch's top returning scorer is senior forward Jake McTighe (13.5 ppg.). Point guard Chris Cetnar and guard Andrew Wirtz are returning starters as well.Senior 6-foot-8 forward Micah Lio saw considerable action last season, but is sidelined indefinitely with a hand injury sustained playing football."He may be out for a week or two, maybe longer. We just don't know right now," Andreassi said.In the meantime, Adam Tuzikow, Robert Zanella and Nathan Junk are battling for time at forward. Kevin Wood, Adam Seger, Ryan Schultheis and Jake Hickey are other guards pushing for time."We've got plenty of competition going on, and that's what you want," Andreassi said. "Team basketball and balanced scoring should be strengths for us."We have to be a good rebounding team. Our guards have to rebound well. We want to be competitive every night and get into the playoffs."

Coach: Rob Carmody, 12th yearLast year: 16-8Carmody knows his team has no control over its lack of height.But the veteran coach is preaching that everything else is fair game.The Planets have 16 players on their varsity roster, with just four of them standing taller that 6 feet and none higher than 6-3. All 16 players are listed as a guard."We're not going to wow anybody with our strength or jumping ability, but, fortunately, basketball's a sport where you can win by playing smart," said Carmody. "How big you are has nothing to do with being in the right position or boxing out."The two starters back from last year's team are junior Christian Locher and senior Luke Gruber.Locher hit 74 3-point bombs a season ago, tops in Butler County, and averaged 15.2 points per game."Christian may not score as much as he did last year, but that won't necessarily mean he's not playing well," said Carmody. "We'll need him to do a lot of things this season."The rest of the lineup is up in the air, but seniors Ian Hindley, Mike Lindenbaum and Tim Vandall, and junior Brad Weischedel all will play.Weischedel showed promise as a sophomore, reaching double figures in points in four games of a five-game stretch.The Planets figure to be the shorter team in most games."Sometimes we will run, but you try and do that against a team like Highlands and they'll drop 100 points on you," said Carmody.Included on the varsity squad are six freshmen."Between junior varsity and varsity, we have 18 freshmen this season," said Carmody. "It's the largest group of freshmen we've ever had."

Coach: Victor Giannotta, sixth yearLast Year: 17-9They're not new faces, but Nate Herrmann, Christian Durbin and Joe Belechak will be stepping into new roles.After graduating four players from a team that reached the PIAA Quad A playoffs last March, Giannotta said he believes he has the leadership he needs in seniors Herrmann (guard), Belechak (forward) and junior point guard Durbin.All three are expected to start.Herrmann and Belechak will be this year's captains while Durbin will be counted on in every aspect of the Raiders' game."We will rely heavily on Christian (10 ppg last year)," said Giannotta, "but not just to score. We need him to become the complete point guard."Herrmann (7.8 ppg) scored in double figures in 13 of 26 games last year and Giannotta is looking for him to be a more consistent threat."He's got the green light and we're expecting him to take 13 to 14 shots per game," the coach said.Durbin and Herrmann are both returning starters, while 6-4 junior forward Evan Mitro (8.0 ppg) started several times last year and will start this season.Rounding out the starting five will be either sophomore guard Alex Maxfield or senior forward Marco Corona.Forwards Pat Kulp and Pete Vicente, a junior and senior respectively, will see time off the bench.After three straight seasons of qualifying for postseason play, the Raiders are aiming high again in 2009-10."Making the state playoffs last year, that's the expectation now," said Giannotta."It's tougher to sustain a high level of play than it is to simply get a program to that point," he added. "But we're not going to back down."

Coach: Cliff Guy, fourth yearLast Year: 7-14Another year, another new challenge, but that challenge always is the same at Summit Academy."We have to blend together as a team," said Guy, who has no returning players from last season, which missed qualifying for the WPIAL playoffs by one game in Section 2-AA."We're all starting fresh. It's a learning process, learning my system. It's coming along, but no one has stood out."That's why Guy hasn't been able to piece together a starting five, but the team does boasts its two quarterbacks from football: senior guards Quran Reaves and Douglas House."They're athletic students who bring a sense of leadership," said Guy. "They play hard all the time, they're talking to the guys and picking them up, and that's good."The team will employ a lot of trap defense and put a lot of pressure on the ball, taking full use of its guard-oriented team."We're undersized, but quick and athletic," said Guy. "We have no inside."That, however, doesn't mean the Knights won't be competitive. They've shown year after year they can still compete and be a presence in the section."We have to be all together as a team," Guy stressed. "If we can do that, we will be successful."

Coach: Jim Marron, 10th yearLast Year: 9-14Marron has high hopes for his Falcons.The squad returns everyone from last year's 9-14 team that lost in the first round of the District 9 Class A playoffs."I'm hoping we can win District 9, but a lot of other teams are hoping the same," said Marron.Allan Eaton, a 6-6 junior forward, averaged a double-double last year with 17.4 points and 11 rebounds per game and was named an all-district first-teamer.Eaton also led the team with 22 3-pointers, but Marron is counting on production from others."We're hoping (senior forward) Reed Terwilliger can give us 10 to 12 points per game and (senior guard) Matt Bartley 8 to 10," he said. "Reed is our most-improved player."Senior Josh Austin will start at point guard and junior Blayne McGuirk (11.5 ppg) will see plenty of time at shooting guard.Along with Eaton, Terwilliger (6-5) will give the Falcons good size in the front court, where senior Alex Logue (6-0) will start as well."We should be bigger than most teams we face," said Marron.Junior forward Logan Wetzel will be the Falcons' sixth man.

Coach: Chris Bellis, first yearLast year: 3-17Bellis is a first-year coach in name only.For the past two seasons, Bellis has coached the Karns City ninth-grade team. As a teacher in the high school, he has had every player on his roster in class.Bellis is very familiar with what he will have on the court this season and he is convinced it won't be a three-win team."We talked about our goals and we made it clear we want to be competitive," Bellis said.Being competitive was often a struggle last season, when the Gremlins averaged 38 points per game.Increasing the scoring punch is paramount.Brandon Collier might be the guy to provide it. The senior showed sparks last season, averaging 12.3 points per game and hitting 29 3-pointers.Evan Olszak is another scoring option for the Gremlins after averaging 7.1 points per game last season.Bellis isn't short on able bodies. He had 28 players show up for the first day of practice."There's a lot of enthusiasm," Bellis said. "There are lots of kids interested in playing."

Coach: Randy Armagost, 10th yearLast Year: 10-13All three returning starters averaged in double digits for the Warriors a year ago. The lone position up for grabs is at center.Seniors Lewis Martino, Mike George and Jereme Loos are battling for playing time there."Each brings something different to the table," Armagost said. "I'm sure they're all going to see some time. I want us to go nine-deep this year because I want to play a faster-paced game."Junior forward Zach Sloan averaged 14 points and 13 rebounds per game last year. Senior guard Zach McCormick netted 12 points per game.Sophomore point guard Kyle Armagost averaged 10.2 points and 5.5 assists last season. Senior Austin Hogsett will be Moniteau's other starting guard."We do need to develop some depth in the backcourt," Coach Armagost said.That depth will come from juniors Mitch Hunter and Heath Lominski, along with freshman Andrew Armagost."Our strength is team chemistry," Coach Armagost said. "These guys are pretty committed. They've put a lot of time in and they enjoy playing with each other."

Coach: Karen Davis, seventh yearLast Year: 15-9Davis has seen a lot in her years of coaching at Union — including a 10-year stint with the girls team — but this season is a first.She can't pinpoint a starting five."I don't like it," said Davis. "We'll see who's the best of the best. It could change up. In the long run it could help us, to push us more."The Knights ended last season with a heartbreaking 43-39 overtime loss to Keystone in the District 9 quarterfinals."They can be there again," said Davis. "A lot of what happened last year was inexperience. We were playing to hold on, not to win. This year, they'll play to win and that's a big difference."A large contingent of players return from that squad and the hope is the experience will pay off.Three seniors return, led by Scott Booth, a 6-1 guard-forward, who averaged 21.3 points per game, while 5-10 guard Logan Mortimer added 10.5 points and 5-7 guard Zac Smith 9.3 points.The trio also combined for 73 3-pointers."Last year, we didn't have a guy who could step up," said Davis. "This year, as a senior, (Booth's) there. He's different this year. This year, he will step up."He's a playmaker, just like Logan. They both see the floor well. Logan's a heck of a defensive player. You give him the ball and get out of his way," Davis added.Austin Davis (5-6 sophomore guard-forward), Brody Pollock (5-10 sophomore forward) and Chase Johnston (6-1 junior forward) all received valuable varsity playing time last season and should help bolster the squad.

Coach: Phil Bushre, second yearLast year: 10-11The Rockets might have lost their point guard, Ethan Geisler, and their spark plug, Derrick Orloski, but Mr. Everything will return.That would be Brian Giesler, an opponent's worst nightmare.The 6-foot-3 junior can play anywhere and do just about everything.He can shoot 3-pointers with the best of them — Gielser made 45 of them last year. He can play inside or out. He can block shots and simply strip the ball away.And he is by far one of the most dynamic players in District 10."He can play 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5," Bushre said. "He's a mismatch."Giesler averaged 15.9 points per game last season to lead the Rockets, who came within a whisker of making the playoffs.And he has a potent supporting cast around him.Senior Ryan Gordon hit 40 3-pointers last season and is one of the most athletic players in the region. Big body Brent Ayers is back to clog up the lane and Alec McDeavitt hopes to build on the late-season heroics of last year.McDeavitt hit the game-winning shot in back-to-back contests toward the end of the 2008-09 season.Sophomores Caleb Whitney and Sean White look to contribute off a deep bench.The season's early games are set up to prepare the Rockets for a grueling region schedule."We're playing some teams Slippery Rock doesn't usually play," Bushre said of his schedule, which includes five games in the season's first eight days. "We play Freeport, South Fayette, Hopewell — some top-notch teams that will probably be playing for their own titles."Bushre said he is more in tune with his team this season after having the opportunity to spend an entire offseason with them.Last year, Bushre was hired in the summer and had some catching up to do."I ran a summer league here and really got to know the kids," Bushre said. "I've learned a lot in the past year."

Coach: Don Fee, 19th yearLast year: 8-14February was a strange month for Fee.Usually preparing for a playoff run, Fee and his Eagles found themselves watching the postseason action from the gymnasium bleachers.For the first time in 17 seasons, Grove City didn't qualify for the playoffs — a dubious honor that Fee hopes is merely a blip on the radar.The talent is there to get back to the playoffs. The Eagles return four seniors, led by 6-foot-7 forward Jeff Hershberger and explosive guard Pat Johnson."I hope what happened last year gets under their skin," Fee said. "But it could go two ways. It could also stifle their confidence."Grove City should have a deep bench, too, as several sophomores are poised to make major contributions.The season, though, will hinge on how quickly the team comes together, Fee said.And how tough it plays."We need to play more physical," Fee said. "Our defense last year was disappointing. We need to protect the basket better. We're not real big, but we have to rebound the basketball."Sports editor John Enrietto and staff writers Mike Kilroy, Derek Pyda and Sam Tallarico contributed to this report.