By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
As the Empire State gears up for the winter sports season, three basketball teams lace up from different spots on the court. A powerhouse program looks to continue their dominance after losing their star player. A defending champion looks to harness their underdog potential once again. And another is looking to create a concrete culture, one that can foster a winning team.
For the past handful of years, the Salamanca basketball team has been a name frequently found among the tops of the Western New York standings. Making an appearance in the state Final Four in two out of the last three years, the Warriors’ program has gained prominence and notoriety. During that stretch of success, they were able to put their success on the shoulders of one man: Lucas Brown.
The six-foot star could be relied on to put the ball in the basket, take it off the boards and strip it away from opponents. In his senior season, one that produced a Big 30 Player of the Year Award, Brown averaged 25 points, 5.6 rebounds, three assists and three steals a game, all of which were team-highs.
“He’s our school’s all-time best basketball player. He changed the basketball culture here for the better,” said Salamanca head coach Adam Bennett. “Lucas was obviously an incredible player, but even more importantly he was a great leader. He ensured that every day his teammates brought it to practice and if they didn’t, he was going to expose them in a healthy way and it really allowed our other guys to increase their play.”
In his swan song season, Brown led the Warriors to a 15-5 finish, a Section VI Class B1 championship, a CCAA 1 West title and a Far-West Regional banner as the team eventually made their way to the New York state Final Four. Once there, the Warriors fell to Marcellus from Section III.
While the Warriors will be without the stat sheet-stuffing talents of Brown as they enter this season, they are more than confident they will be able to fill the void. Salamanca brings back six returning letterwinners for a combined total of 11 years of varsity experience. This includes Avery Brown, who averaged 8.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, two assists and 1.8 steals per game and Maddox Isaac, who contributed 6.3 points, three rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
“Losing someone like Lucas, you can never fill his shoes and it won’t be filled by one player. I think we’re different this year in that we have a bunch of guys that have the ability to score the ball,” said Bennett. “This is one of the best defensive groups that I’ve been around in a while so it allows us to generate offense off of our defense and in transition. But the reality is that we’re going to be a different team.
“I think we’re going to be a lot less set oriented offensively and that gives an opportunity for our guys to play more together,” said Bennett. “If we move the basketball, share the basketball and we play with confidence, I think we’ll be okay.”
Just down the road, the Olean boys’ team is also looking to defend their Sectional championship.
Despite finishing the regular season sub-.500 at 8-12, the Huskies played their best basketball when it mattered the most. Entering the Class A2 bracket, Olean stormed their way into the title game to meet Depew, who they dispatched by double-digits for the banner.
“The big thing with me, year in and year out, is that we focus on the finished product. How good can we be by the end of the season?” said Olean head coach Tim Kolasinski. “There’s some years where we might have a really strong record and it doesn’t matter. Whatever our record is, (winning a title) is still the goal and I think last year was really indicative of that mindset.”
The Huskies have six returning letterwinners hoping to defend their championship. Leading that returning core are seniors Caedyn Tingley, who averaged just over 12 points a game alongside two assists and 1.2 steals a night and Luca Quinn, who posted 11 points, four rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Having a battle-tested group at its core, Kolasinski is confident the Huskies will hit the ground running.
“By the end of the season, we only had nine or 10 guys on the roster before the postseason. We had to move some JV guys up,” said Kolasinski. “So really, you’re talking about two-thirds of the team from last year returning.”
While Portville may not have been in the same conversations as the Warriors or Huskies in regards to accolades or achievements in the previous season, the Panthers are steadfast in their commitment to growing the program through their budding rebuild.
Last year, Tom Yanetsko took the reins of the Portville boys’ basketball team, inheriting a senior-heavy team that lacked chemistry. Through 20 games, the Panthers fell to 7-13 and while they earned a ticket to the postseason, they were eliminated in the opening round.
“We didn’t play like a team when we first started,” said Yanetsko. “By the time we ended we were playing like a team and playing very well. It was a learning experience for all of us.”
Losing 14 seniors to graduation, Yanetsko realizes his team will be depleted of veteran experience. The Panthers return two letterwinners in Aidan DeFazio and Chase Armstrong, however, they will be without DeFazio’s 19 points and seven assists a game after he sustained an injury in the football playoffs. He is predicted to be out until January. With all this being considered, Yanetsko believes that focusing on individual and personal growth first will lead to success on the court.
“My first goal with all the kids, and I told them this at the very first practice, is for them to become better individuals. Yes, we’re playing basketball, yes we’re trying to win for the school but it’s about sportsmanship, respect for others and I’m trying to mold these young kids into young gentlemen. That’s my first goal,” said Yanetsko. “Now our basketball goals are, number one, to play together as a team and of course, win as many games as we can. We want to win our league and then Sectionals, but that’s a long ways in the future.”
