GROVE CITY — Cody Fleeger understood.

Instead of sulking about a deep cut into his playing time, the senior on the Grove City College basketball team and Butler graduate decided to embrace his new role.

But it wasn’t easy.

“It was tough at first,” said Fleeger, who averaged 25 minutes of playing time as a junior, but saw those minutes drop to 10 this season. “As the season went on, I had to adjust. Things like that are going to happen. You have to do what you can do to help the team.”

For Fleeger, that meant being a mentor to a large freshman class that included Butler County high school products Christian Durbin (Seneca Valley), Brian Giesler (Slippery Rock) and Christian Locher (Mars).

His selflessness caught the eye of Grove City College men’s basketball coach Steve Lamie.

“It takes a kid with special character to do what he did,” Lamie said. “We talked about it at the start of the season and he was OK with it. He knew the younger kids were going to eat into his minutes. He was really an integral part of bringing these freshmen along.”

One of those freshmen was Durbin, who struggled in the early part of the season but found his stride down the stretch.

Durbin played in all 25 games and made two starts, averaging 5.9 points per game.

His shooting percentage, though, was well below where it was when he starred at Seneca Valley.

“During the first part of the season, I was more worried about school work,” Durbin said. “The academic standards here are very high and I had to learn how to balance that with basketball. That was difficult.”

Lamie said he sees that from freshmen quite often.

Once Durbin acclimated himself to college life, his game improved.

“As the second semester rolled around, he was playing so well in practice, we gave him some starts,” Lamie said of Durbin. “He’s really a gift to watch. He’s a great point guard, a great assists guy, but he can score, too. He’s definitely willing to give up a good shot for a great shot.”

Durbin said Fleeger was a big help to his development.

“He knew when I was frustrated,” Durbin said of Fleeger. “He knew how to calm me down.”

Locher had his freshman season stymied by an ankle injury.

Mars’ all-time leading scorer only played in 17 games.

But Lamie said that is by no means an indication of what Locher can bring.

“He’s going to be a sleeper,” Lamie said of Locher. “He’s really dedicated and confident on the floor. He’s going to get into the weight room and put some meat on his bones. He’s going to be one of those guys who shows up in a few months and you won’t recognize him because he’s filled out.”

Giesler saw action in all 25 games, but like Durbin, his field-goal percentage was well below his norm.

“He’s a kid I know is committed,” Lamie said of Giesler. “We really challenged Brian halfway through the season to be more vocal and play defense our way. He was really out of his comfort zone, but he pushed himself to do it.”

Giesler said it took him until mid-January to feel comfortable on the court and off of it at GCC.

“It was definitely a difficult transition,” Giesler said. “Grove City College is two-to-three steps up academically. It was definitely an awakening.”

So was playing defense the way Lamie and his coaching staff want players to play defense.

Lamie demands full effort every time down the court on the defensive end. That’s something players like Giesler, Durbin and Locher couldn’t do in high school as top scoring threats.

“I’ll admit it. In high school, I took a lot of plays off,” Giesler said. “I had to. I had to save myself. Here, you either buy into it and do it, or you don’t play.”

Lamie gets all three of those guys back. One guy who isn’t coming back is Fleeger, who Lamie said made a bigger impact on the program than just points and rebounds.

Grove City was only 5-21 during Fleeger’s junior season. The Wolverines rallied to go 11-14 this year, in part because of Fleeger’s will, Lamie said.

“We were picked to finish last,” Lamie said. “Fleeger wasn’t going to let that happen. No way. His toughness and leadership and the things he did behind the scenes made us a better basketball team. I cannot speak more highly of him. He will be missed.”