Boy's Basketball preview: Strongsville, North Royalton and Brecksville-Broadview Heights
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Last year, the Bees boys basketball team won the school’s first conference title in almost 20 years. But improving on their 16-5 record will be a yearlong challenge in the Southwestern Conference, where they went 13-1.
"We have to defend if we’re going to even compete in the conference, because overall it will be a lot better top to bottom," said head coach Steve Mehalik.
Avon Lake looks once again to be a force in the SWC, but Mehalik noted that many teams have improved.
Brecksville graduated seven seniors and have three returning. Floor general Danilo Radjen and scorer Bryan Willey will be back, while Eric Moore transferred to the school from Arkansas.
Juniors Matt Csuhran and Tommy Tupa are known for their shooting ability, but coaches hope to make them great scorers this season. They will be helped by new offensive-minded assistant coach Tim Schmotzer, who previously spent 16 seasons at North Olmsted. Jason Black, the school’s head football coach, has also joined the staff and is familiar working with many of the boys on the gridiron.
Health will be an early factor, as Tupa is still getting into basketball shape after football season banged him up. Also, 6-3 junior Sam Swenton is recovering from an ankle injury he suffered the first day of practice.
The Bees tip off the year at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 6 against Parma at the Bee Hive.
Next door in North Royalton, the Bears are coming off a successful season in which they split the Lake Division crown with Mayfield. They finished with an 18-5 overall record, and went 8-2 in Northeast Ohio Conference play.
North Royalton graduated a ton of seniors, eight to be exact, so they will be a young squad this season. A notable departure was Ned Tomic who is now playing at Cornell University.
"We only have two or three guys with varsity experience. We graduated 90 percent of our scoring," said head coach Tim Matus.
He added that the Bears have bought into a different up-tempo style.
"We’re not very tall so we need to play faster. We don’t have a guy over six-foot-three," Matus said.
Senior Brandon Woods and junior Travis Tarnowski have the most experience, as a lot of kids are coming up from the junior varsity squad. Matus plans to put at least eight different players on the court each game.
The Bears open up at Holy Name tonight, Dec. 2, then play fellow Sun Star-Courier team Strongsville in Mustang country at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 9.
Speaking of the Mustangs, they are another team that graduated a lot of talent. Seven seniors are gone, five of whom were starters including Ray Hamilton, Gurjeet Gill and Aaron White.
"You don’t replace those guys, they spoil you as a coach when you have kids like that. we ran a lot of sets to their strengths and abilities," said head coach Joe Lynch. "We’re probably doing everything differently than last year."
Finishing the 2010-2011 campaign at 16-6, Strongsville fell one game short of earning a share of the elite Valley Division titlewith Garfield Heights. There are four seniors on the team this year.
"We will be very young in terms of playing time, so we hope to be able to get comfortable with the tough schedule then improve every ball game," Lynch said. He added that the team’s goal is to get better each week while using games as yard stick.
They will look to seniors for leadership, as "they’ve been there, done that." Jake Even, Brady Armitage, Justin Stephens, and Sean Alexander are the seniors, but Lynch said they will also lean on junior Kyle Meehan who, as a sophomore, had a lot of floor time.
Like North Royalton, Strongsville will play a combinationof eight or nine boys each night.
Besides Garfield, whose perfect season was spoiled by the Mustangs last year, rivalries with Medina and Brunswick remain in the division. Newcomer Mentor will add an additional challenge. Strongsville opens up tonight at home against Olmsted Falls.
Get live game updates of tonight's Strongsville vs. Olmsted Falls game by following @SunNews_Sports on Twitter.
Contact Bisesi at (216) 986-6065 or jbisesi@sunnews.com
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