By SPENCER BATES
PORTVILLE — The Portville boys basketball team did not have a terrific start to its 2025-26 season, dropping five of its first six games.
But with the flipping of the calendar, the Panthers also seemed to have turned a page.
In their four games in 2026, they are 3-1, and catapulted themselves into second place in the CCAA Div. III with a convincing 62-38 win over Frewsburg on Jan. 15.
Bouncing back from its lone loss this calendar year, Portville put together a complete effort on both ends of the floor, controlling the affair from start to finish.
“We did not play good in Gowanda on Tuesday and the guys responded very well to that,” Portville head coach Dylan Burton said. “Our guys are finally buying into sharing the ball. (We had) three kids in double figures, close to 20 points. That’s huge. We talked at the beginning of the year about how we need some supporting roles around Aidan (DeFazio), and Peyton (Carter) and Zach (Green) stepped up huge for us tonight in those supporting roles.”
It didn’t take long for the Panthers to find a groove either. While holding their opponents just one field goal through the first quarter, they stormed ahead, leading 23-3 after eight minutes of action. The good times continued to roll as they took a 42-15 lead into the intermission and held a 60-25 lead after three quarters.
There was rarely a time in which a Portville player put a foot out of place in the win. But even when that did occur, it made up for it in other areas on the floor.
But the sudden change in fortunes for the Panthers is not due to some ‘new year, new me’ magic. According to Burton, it has come as a result of some modifications to the system as a whole.
“After the DeCerbo tournament, I did a little soul searching to see if what I was running was really good for this team,” Burton said. “We ended up switching up our offense and completely going kind of positionless, so we’re able to just move the ball and live and die on that. That really opens it up for other guys. Zach does a phenomenal job inside the paint for us at and around the free throw line. Then Peyton just shot the lights out tonight, which was huge for us, too. So I think the more we play through this new offense, the guys are going to see more opportunities for everyone.”
Emphasizing more of a free flowing system allowed for Burton’s squad to move the ball with ease and accuracy, opening up opportunities for others to score — which has taken a significant amount of pressure off DeFazio’s shoulders. The question of how to get others more involved, especially on the offensive end, is something Burton has been attempting to figure out since the start of the season, and it looks as though he’s found the solution.
DeFazio still put together a great night, scoring 16 points. But it was the likes of Green and Carter that stepped up big time in the win, recording 17 and a game-high 21 points, respectively.
Of the eight field goals that Carter drained, five were beyond the 3-point arc. Green did a majority of his work inside the arc, but what may be just as impactful as what he brings to the table with his offense is the energy he plays with.
“His offensive presence is huge for us, but honestly, he’s our leader on defense,” Burton said of Green. “If he’s talking, if he’s got the energy, our whole team feeds off that. … I coached him when I first started (as the) JV coach and it’s just been about getting him to put that energy in the right spot, and he’s finally figuring it out. He’s a huge spark for us.”
Another one of the “others” that had a phenomenal game, but whose contributions did not show up in the box score was Elijah Truman. At just a freshman standing, Truman has been tasked to be the defensive stalwart in the paint for the Panthers. Burton admitted that role has taken Truman some time to grow into, but as of late he has found himself in a vein of success in all aspects of the game.
“It’s tough when you’re a freshman and you step up to varsity, especially coming off an injury from football,” Burton said. “But he’s been huge. He’s such a coachable kid. I’ve been able to tell him, ‘I don’t need you to score a ton of points. You got to rebound, you got to play defense.’ And he’s done a really good job. We’ve played against a lot of big guys in the paint recently. And with him only being 5-11 he’s still a phenomenal defender down there. His development has been huge for us and I’m super excited to see how that goes moving forward.”
The Panthers cruised over the finish line with the win in tow. But this recent stretch of victories has been the result of far more than just good basketball according to Burton. To him, it has shown what his team can do when they are fully bought into the system and work for one another.
“They finally have bought in and understand that no matter what’s going on outside in the world, outside of this gym, what matters is the 10 guys that are on the floor, myself and my assistant coaches,” Burton said. “They finally bought into what that offense looks like, are playing defense and talking and communicating. As a coach, you just go home beaming from joy when you have a team that wants to just be there … and that buys into everything that you’re doing.”
Portville will look to keep the wins coming in its next game, set for Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m. on the road against Bolivar-Richburg.
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AT PORTVILLE
Frewsburg (38)
Collver 3 4-7 10, Cusimano 3 0-0 7, Weaver 2 0-0 5, Signorino 2 0-0 4, Pasieka 1 0-0 3, Hultberg 1 1-3 3, Munday 1 1-1 3, Lewis 1 0-0 2, Beckstrom 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 7-13 38
Portville (62)
Carter 8 0-0 21, Green 8 0-2 17, DeFazio 6 3-3 16, Torrey 2 0-0 4, Hitchcock 1 0-0 2, Truman 1 0-0 2. Totals: 32 3-5 62
Frews. 3 15 25 38
Port. 23 42 60 62
Three-point goals: Frews. 3 (Cusimano, Weaver, Pasieka), Port. 6 (Carter 5, DeFazio); Total fouls: Frews. 14, Port. 16; Fouled out: None.
