By SPENCER BATES
ALLEGANY — Through four games into the Allegany-Limestone boys basketball team’s season, head coach Glenn Anderson knows there is still a mountain of work ahead of him.
The Gators, in their first home game of the season on Dec. 16, suffered their second league loss by a considerable margin. This time around, they fell to a stout Southwestern squad 68-41.
Underscoring this season for A-L is how well the program will perform following significant roster turnover. Anderson’s team leaned heavily on its most experienced, veteran players last year. And with the likes of Carson Kwiatkowski, Gavin Straub, Collin Forrest and Caleb Strade along with five other seniors having graduated, the Gators are in uncharted territory.
“It’s a work in progress, I look at my call sheet and it’s on an index card now, and it used to be a full sheet of paper,” Anderson said. “It’s just the nature of the beast. We got a pretty young group. We got a JV team on varsity with a couple upperclassmen. We’re playing a varsity schedule, and nobody cares. No one’s going to feel sorry for us. We had a couple guys hurt. Nobody cares. There’s no excuse for not playing hard, and that’s all I ask them to do.”
Offense was hard to come by throughout the game for A-L, which oftentimes saw its possessions cut off before they could get going. The Trojans defense hawked the Gators all night, picking them up full-court and causing turnovers with their press or reading passes and jumping into the lanes for quick pick-offs which were returned the other way for points.
Leading the way on that front for Southwestern was Roger Markham, who recorded a game-high 27 points.
Anderson noted that a bit of that slow-building offense comes from a number of his players not having the most experience with the system, but that it also comes down to preparation.
“It may be a little bit of inexperience and just not being ready,” Anderson said. “I got to do a better job of getting us ready to anticipate passes against teams with quick guards and stuff like that. I mean, Roger (Markham) could have had 15 steals and 40 points tonight, if he wanted to. … I got to do a better job of getting some pressure releases in there, some back doors and stuff like that.”
Another aspect of the Gators’ program that has seen a big shakeup is its rebounding. Last season, with the length of Kwiatkowski, Forrest and especially Straub, they were dominant on the glass. This season, those rebounding responsibilities are being split relatively evenly amongst the team.
“For me, it’s always going to be about effort,” Anderson said. “We’re undersized on the boards … and there’s not really anything we can do about that. It just is what it is. All we can do is try to box out, try to gang rebound and that’s just effort and heart.”
That being said, Greg Peck and Nolan O’Brien have taken on a grand majority of those duties with the size they have. Unfortunately, Peck missed a grand majority of the game against the Trojans after picking up an injury.
“They’ve been really good on the boards,” Anderson said. “Nolan’s had 10 rebounds in three of our four games so far. He’s been pretty good on the boards. Greg’s been great on the boards. Greg’s a physical kid, so missing him after he went down, that was a big loss for us.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Greg Peck (13) fights his way through contact for a layup. Peck scored six points for the Gators in their loss to the Trojans. (Spencer Bates)
However, not all was bad for the A-L as it got its best game of the season, in terms of scoring, out of Ryan Callen. He netted a team-high 21 points with nine coming in the fourth quarter.
Callen was one of the few younger players on this year’s team that got valuable playing time with the old guard of last season. Due to that, he is being looked at to lead the charge for this team — something he is showing he is capable of with double-figure points in each of his last three games.
But he cannot do it all alone. He needs a right-hand man.
Enter: Tayden Margeson.
The freshman, while not having his best game against the Trojans, has shown flashes early this season that he, paired with Callen, can be a devastating force in the not-so-distant future.
“I think that’s something to look forward to,” Anderson said of the duo. “We’re certainly pretty high on Tayden and what he brings to the table. He’s a good shooter, he handles the ball well and he listens. The biggest thing is that he is coachable. Everything coaches say to him, he’s locked in and soaking it up like a sponge. It’s really good to see as freshmen. We all understand that this is a multi-year project and we’re just trying to get better one day at a time. Eventually the frustrations today will lead to some results and some gratification down the road.”
Allegany-Limestone will look to pick up its first CCAA Div. I win of the season in their next game, set for Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Fredonia.
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AT ALLEGANY
Southwestern (68)
Markham 11 2-4 27, Edwards 5 0-0 11, Hooks 4 2-2 10, Waite 4 0-0 10, Casselman 3 0-0 6, Harris 2 0-0 4. Totals: 29 4-6 68
Allegany-Limestone (41)
Callen 7 5-10 21, Peck 3 0-0 6, O’Brien 2 0-0 5, Amore 2 0-0 4, Wilczewski 1 0-0 3, Margeson 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 5-10 41
SW 14 37 53 68
A-L 11 20 28 41
Three-point goals: SW 6 (Markham 3, Waite 2, Edwards), A-L 4 (Callen 2, Wilczewski, O’Brien); Total fouls: SW 11, A-L 10; Fouled out: None.
