(One in a series)
REMSEN Second year head basketball coach Scott Jones will be looking to prove that last years’ playoff run during his first season at the helm wasn’t just by sheer luck.
Jones and the rest of the Rams will have their work cut out for them this season as nine seniors were lost to graduation.
The Rams, which finished 13-9 overall and 6-6 in Center State Conference Division IV play, went all the way to the Class D-1 semifinals before they lost to eventual champion Richfield Springs by a 53-32 setback.
Remsen guards and top two scorers from last season Travis Bivins and Sean Lighthall, who both averaged double-digits per game last season, were lost to graduation including guards Devin Delaney, Lucas DiPerna and Sean Hamlin, forwards Keith Hamlin, Jimmy Beagle and Andy Hollenbeck.
"It’s tough losing all of those kids because I don’t have a leader on the team right now. Someone is going to have to step up on this team and become the leader on the court that we need," Jones said.
The Rams will also be without the services of 6-foot-3 center Tyler Miles and will call upon a large group of junior varsity call-ups from a squad that finished 19-1 last season.
"They are a young group that has seen success in the past, but they will have to get used to the game speed at the varsity level. I feel that once they get some experience playing as a team out there, we will be fine," Jones said.
Remsen opened their season last night with a 48-31 victory over Madison in the first round of their own Remsen Tip-Off Tournament and will face Oriskany tonight in the championship game starting at 7:30 p.m.
Last year’s senior laden lineup caught their head of steam near the middle of the season when they ripped off a seven game winning streak and closed the season with a 6-4 record.
Seven new juniors will make up this year’s class for the Rams, including Darnell and Melvin McKeller, Michael Wilcox, Sean Nicolosi, Travis Wilder, Spencer Ballard and Kody Burke.
Other newcomer this season is senior Marcus Storms, while returning seniors include guard Andy Roberts and forward Brad Walker.
Coach Jones knows that in order for this team to be successful this season they are going to have to learn how to play aggressive defense and listen to instruction out on the court.
"Defense is going to be huge for us and I’ve been telling the team that we have to play solid defense the whole game," he added.
Jones said that the team will use a variety of different defenses this year, but he can see that the team will excel in the zone defense because of the players long wing span. "Our big guys are going to have to develop quickly for us because of the physical play down low in this tough league," said Jones.
"I think that it will take some time for this team to get used to playing with each other and around Christmas time we should be a well-rounded basketball team," he added.
