By SPENCER BATES
The 2025-26 boys high school basketball season is mere days from tipping off and local teams are looking to hit the ground running as best they can with numerous changes taking place.
Whether it be within the roster itself or or at the helm, significant alterations have been made since the conclusion of the previous campaign, meaning those that have remained constant will be looked towards to uphold the standards of seasons past.
Taking that into account, here is everything you need to know and what to expect from our local teams this year:
OLEAN
Last season, the Olean boys basketball team managed to swing one of the biggest turnarounds in all of Section 6.
At the start of the year, things looked bleak for the Huskies as they found themselves winners of just one of its first seven games. But things changed fast and after their sputtered start, they just could not lose.
Olean managed to win all but three of its contests the rest of the campaign, with their final loss coming in the Section 6 A2 Semifinals to Lackawanna.
But as head coach Tim Kolasinski pointed out, their struggles early on were not due to an overall inability to play well, it was just a matter of coming up with and being able to execute in the big moments.
“There were some culture changes, I think there were some different things at play but ultimately, we didn’t actually play all that poorly at the beginning of the season,” Kolasinski said. “We just didn’t know how to win the close games. It took us a while to figure out how to make winning plays and turn those five-point losses into five-point wins.”
Olean’s Joe Mest (24) drills a shot from beyond the arc against Fredonia last season. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Where the Huskies differ from a number of local teams is that they didn’t lose a significant amount of players to graduation after last season. They lost Caedyn Tingley and Sullivan Hoffman, who both were pivotal pieces, but returned the grand majority of talent that helped carry them to a deep playoff run.
“One of the good things is that when you have guys like Mykel Rivera, Joe Mest and Adrian Bohdanowycz, those are three guys that are entering their third year of varsity basketball and what that does for the program is that it really takes a lot off me because they’ve been around me,” Kolasinski said. “They know me, they know what I expect. They’re almost like coaches on the floor.”
Of course, Kolasinski is happy with the amount of talent he is bringing back to his team and with the pieces they’ve added around the vets. But still, he noted that a team can bring back as many players as they want, no one season is guaranteed to yield the same results as a past season, even with the same players.
“I might be a little different than a lot of other coaches, but I don’t even know my team yet,” Kolasinski said. “Even though we have some returning guys, we still got to figure out how all the puzzle pieces fit together. I know that sounds a little cliché, but we got to figure out our depth, how our rotations are going to work and what’s going to work best for different groups on the floor. I still feel like we have to figure out what our identity is going to be.”
However, there is one crucial difference in the roster between this year’s team and last year’s, which was not affected by graduation, and that is the absence of Dominic Giovine.
Over the course of the previous campaign, Giovine grew exponentially and found himself the X-factor of the team on more than one occasion. Unfortunately for Kolasinski, Giovine moved out of the district in the offseason and took with him a substantial amount of production. This poses a whole new set of challenges for Olean, who now has to come up with ways to replace the numbers he put up.
“We don’t have a guy that we can just rely on to get rebounds like Dom,” Kolasinski said. “We don’t have a guy who’s just going to control the defensive boards like that. So it’s cliché, but it’s going to be a team effort.”
So, due to that loss of production, Kolasinski is keeping his goals for the season at the day-to-day level, in hopes that the team will peak at the right moments in the year.
“The one thing that I always talk to the guys about is that every season is an entity of its own,” Kolasinski said. “I really don’t know what our potential is yet. I’m really trying to learn this team day-by-day to see what the best way that we’re going to play is. … I talk in a lot of clichés, but they’re actually my beliefs, and my belief is that every year we want to play our best basketball at the end of the year.”
Olean is set to tip-off its season on the road against Corning-Painted Post on Dec. 6 at 12 p.m.
ALLEGANY-LIMESTONE
Allegany-Limestone went as far as one team could go in Section 6 without claiming a title.
Behind a significant amount of veteran leadership, the Gators finished with a 15-9 record and reached the B2 Finals on the back of wins over Silver Creek, MST and Eden, respectively. But ultimately, their dreams of section glory were cut short by the Wilson Lakemen in a nine-point affair.
This season will look considerably different for A-L considering it graduated nine seniors from last year’s team. That included the likes of Carson Kwiatkowski, Collin Forrest, Gavin Straub and Caleb Strade — the team’s top four scorers, in respective order. But according to head coach Glenn Anderson, while the faces may be different, the values and responsibilities carry over.
“One of the first things we talked about on day one of practice is that our culture was set years ago, even before those guys,” Anderson said. “And that’s great, but (now it’s their) job to cultivate that every day. They have to decide what they’re going to accept from their teammates in practice. That’s partially my job too, but it goes a lot further if the team takes that responsibility on.”
Carson Kwiatkowski (13) soars to the rim against Eden last season. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Still, with as many new faces that are set to step up, the Gators’ system will not change. There will obviously be differences, but the goals and expectations of the program, much like the values, remain the same.
“Obviously, we have different set plays and different things we’re doing, and some wrinkles defensively that we didn’t have in the past, but the philosophy stays the same,” Anderson said. “We are about three things: we are going to defend at a higher level, we’re going to rebound at a great rate, … (and) the third one, the most important one, is we’re going to share the ball.”
Fortunately for Anderson, those that have made their return to the court ahead of the campaign have not skipped a beat. And while he pointed out where there may be a bit of a drop off in terms of skill this year, the returners have picked up the slack with their effort.
“They’re picking up where we left off,” Anderson said. “The same things are important to them. Our practices are as intense as they have been in a long time. I saw that from this group all summer too. They just play really hard. Maybe the skill level isn’t where it has been in the past with other guys, but, my god, they play hard. I just told them, ‘if you guys keep giving me that effort, we’re going to be in great shape.’”
The most impactful returner to the team this year is set to be Ryan Callen. Having picked up significant minutes last season while Kwiatkowski missed time with an elbow injury, the now-sophomore gained a good amount of experience at the varsity level. He finished as the team’s fifth-leading scorer last season and earned some high praise from his coach who said he sees a lot of Kwiatkowski — one of the program’s all-time greats — in Callen.
“I’ve been impressed with his development,” Anderson said. “I think Ryan being there to watch Carson is a huge thing for him to have in his back pocket. He saw the way he attacked practice every day, the way he prepared himself, and I think Carson being injured for that stretch last season probably went a long way in Ryan’s development too. He got a lot of time (on the court) and a lot of opportunities too.”
Callen will lead a relatively young Gators team into battle this season. And it is that youth that has Anderson not concerning himself with anything other than the day-in, day-out. That being said, he still has the utmost confidence that if his team stays on the trajectory it is currently on, they will be a team to be feared come the postseason.
“With a group as young as we have, we just have to worry about getting better day-to-day,” Anderson said. “I do think we’ll be a team no one will want to see at the end (of the season). The way this group has improved … I think we will be pretty dangerous at the end, no matter what our record is going into the playoffs.”
Allegany-Limestone is set to tip-off its season on Dec. 5 on the road against Roy-Hart at 6:30 p.m.
SALAMANCA
The Salamanca Warriors, one of Section 6’s perennial powerhouses, were exactly that last year.
They recorded their second-lowest loss tally in their last four seasons, dropping just four contests over the course of the entire 2024-25 campaign. Behind the ever-experienced core of Maddox Isaac, Cory Holleran, Jacob Herrick and Avery Brown, the Salamanca program was, historically, in some of the most capable hands it could have been in.
But this season, all four of those leaders will not be suiting up. This has left a significant experience vacuum within the team that head coach Adam Bennett knows will force his team to be different in comparison to previous years.
“When you lose so many great players and dynamic leaders and guys that set records, it certainly creates a void that needs to be filled,” Bennett said. “We’re a different basketball team this year. There’s no question about that. We’re built differently, we’ll play differently, our offense will look different, defensively, we’ll do some things that are different than what we’ve done.”
Salamanca’s Payton Bradley (3) looks for a pass in a game against Olean last season. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
That being said, Salamanca is far from without any returning experience. The most significant of the bunch being Payton Bradley. At 6-6, Bradley commands the attention of opposing defenses. Still, after years in which Bennett has had his team led by more-than-capable guards, a big man being the go-to guy means that he and his staff will need to change some things in order to get the best out of their most weathered player.
“We’re going to have to be creative in the ways that we get Payton great opportunities to score, and that’s on us as a coaching staff,” Bennett said. “The good news is Payton can score in a number of ways. He can score with his back to the basket, he’s worked really hard to be able to score off the bounce, he’s a good perimeter shooter.”
Now while Bradley may be the most experienced returner in terms of the minutes he got on the floor, there are some younger players who received valuable experience practicing against and learning from the veterans of years past that the Warriors’ coaching staff will be looking towards to step up in a big way. Standing out amongst the bunch are the likes of Dominick Hill, Carlton Farmer and Brendon Ghani.
“Dom is an outstanding guard, he can really score at all three levels,” Bennett said. “He’s got great handles, he can play the point and we can play him off the ball. He’s so versatile and he’s incredibly intelligent. We also have Carlton Farmer, who played about 10 minutes a game last year. … Brendon Ghani came to us last year … and is one of the most enjoyable kids to coach I’ve ever been around. He has a relentlessly positive attitude. I’ve never seen him get down on himself, I’ve never seen him ever question coaching or be cross with a teammate. Brendon is the epitome of learning and growing.”
Hill, Farmer and Ghani are poised for impactful roles this season, but they are still relatively inexperienced in terms of what it takes to be successful at the varsity level. Once again, look no further than Bradley to help with that transition.
“Payton is really the last player that was involved with that group, that played a major role with that group (which included the four graduates from last season as well as Lucus Brown and Jaxson Ross),” Bennett said. “He is taking on the alpha leadership role, the vocal role, and is mirroring the way that he was led when he was a sophomore. He had so many good players lead him and make him who he is today, and now he’s passing that on to our younger guys.”
As for what Salamanca has laid out in terms of its goals and expectations for the season, Bennett is not even entertaining the idea of looking beyond the day-to-day.
“All we are talking about is working as hard as we can to get better every day,” Bennett said. “We genuinely believe in the process here. It’s not a talking point. … If you spend any time thinking about what the results are going to be, that’s time taken away from the things that we can control.”
Salamanca is set to begin its 2024-25 season at home on Dec. 4 against Frontier at 7:30 p.m.
PORTVILLE
Last year, Portville’s success was stunted as star player Aidan DeFazio picked up a significant back injury that kept him from playing until late in the season.
The Panthers finished 4-15 and were a first round exit in the Section 6 Class B2 Playoffs. But for them, the biggest change does not have to do with the roster, instead at the head coach position as former JV coach Dylan Burton was promoted to the front of the varsity bench.
With a new coach at the helm, what becomes all the more important is gaining the confidence of the players. It is a good thing that repertoire is already built considering Burton has coached all but one player on the varsity roster this year. Granted that one player he has yet to coach is the talisman, DeFazio.
Fortunately, according to Burton, DeFazio has been bought-in ever since his hire and is bringing with him the leadership qualities he possesses.
“(Most of the players) have that experience of how I run practices, the different things I run with me at the helm, but Aidan will be huge, and he has been bought in from the start,” Burton said. “We’re pushing the kids to work really hard. The practices are very upbeat, workouts are very upbeat, and all the kids that we have in the program this year have really bought into what we’re bringing to the table this year.”
Portville’s Aidan DeFazio (21) takes a contested 3-pointer during the Panthers’ 64-24 win over Cassadaga Valley last season. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Of course the big question looming over the Panthers program is whether or not DeFazio is healthy after aggravating that back injury during this past football season. The short answer is yes. The long answer is that DeFazio has been ready and raring to go for the jump.
“He and his family decided together that, with re-aggravating (his injury) during football, that he was going to step back and just get himself right,” Burton said. “Ultimately, as a high school kid you don’t want to do something that’s going to jeopardize the rest of your life, and a back injury could do that. But the good news is that he is healthy. He’s been with us from the very start of practice and hasn’t had any issues. He looks like the same old Aidan DeFazio, which is huge for us.”
But DeFazio is not the entire team and Burton knows this. As much as DeFazio may be able to provide 30 points per night, the goal for the Panthers is to spread the ball out enough so that other teams don’t just have to game plan for one player.
“For us to be successful, we can’t just have Aidan provide all of our points,” Burton said. “(Fortunately) we’ve got Peyton Carter coming back and … he brings a really big spark to our game. … We bring Zach Green back as well. He’s a workhorse, he’s a big, athletic kid, and he can drive to the hoop and give us some scoring opportunities there.”
Ultimately, Burton’s measure of success for the season does not simply hinge on a certain number of wins. Instead it will be measured by how much the team commits to the system and follows through on the tasks set for them. Only then will they see their long-term goals come to fruition.
“Right from the start, it’s been about ‘are you going to buy-in,’” Burton said. “That’s the first goal, and that’s been the primary thing in our minds all year. … My long term goal for the entire season is that we want to host a playoff game. The past three years that I’ve been here, we’ve had to travel for those playoff games.”
Portville will begin its season at home on Dec. 5 against Cuba-Rushford.
