Centre County boys’ basketball season preview

Centre County boys’ basketball will be completely underway this weekend, as a few teams look to build on stellar seasons while others hope to rebound from rough 2014 campaigns.

State College was crowned District 6 champions in coach Joe Walker’s first season at the helm, and Penns Valley posted an impressive 16-5 mark last year under longtime coach Terry Glunt.

Fellow Mountain League members Bellefonte and Bald Eagle Area had 8-15 and 9-14 records, respectively, while Philipsburg-Osceola wrapped up its season with an 0-22 mark.

St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy tallied a 10-16 record, Grace Prep went 8-8, and Centre County Christian Academy was 0-17.

Posting a 13-11 record, Walker turned around a squad that earned just two wins the previous season. The Little Lions won four of their last five games before falling to Harrisburg in the first round of the PIAA Class AAAA Championships.

State College won’t have the same firepower it had a year ago, as Walker’s team lost four seniors. Still, Walker said the Little Lions’ goal is to defend their District 6 title, and he hopes to get in the top two of the Mid Penn Conference.

The coach expects 6-foot-5 sophomore Drew Friberg, State College’s leading scorer as a freshman, to produce at a high level once again. He averaged 12.2 points per game last year.

“We really like the ball in his hands,” Walker said of Friberg. “He’s all-around. We can put him in any position.”

He’ll have to wait on Friberg and newcomer Brandon Clark, though. The two play football for State College, which has a state quarterfinal game against Pittsburgh Central Catholic on Friday.

Walker’s team opens its season in the Skip Coleman Tournament at 7:30 p.m. Friday against La Salle College.

In the meantime, Walker expects Tommy Sekunda to lead the offense. Sekunda, a junior who missed last season with an ACL injury, will be a welcomed addition to this year’s team.

“Last year, he would have contributed a lot,” Walker said. “I expect him to make a big impact as a starter this season.”

Similar to State College last year, Penns Valley will be spearheaded by the play of its seniors. The Rams lost three players to graduation, but return a litany of contributors.

“It’s a senior-laden team, and a successful senior-laden team,” Penns Valley coach Terry Glunt said. “Hopefully we can continue the work we’ve done the past few years.”

The Rams won five straight to finish off its 2014-15 regular season, but lost to Bishop McCort in the first round of the District 6 tournament.

Glunt, who became Penns Valley’s all-time wins leader with a victory over BEA last year, said defense — always a cornerstone for the coach’s teams — has been a work in progress so far.

Because of injuries last season, Glunt noted that the Rams couldn’t defend with the same intensity he would have liked. He hopes that isn’t the case when Penns Valley opens its season on Friday against Line Mountain.

“It’s always been our trademark,” Glunt said of the defense. “But hopefully we can get back to an aggressive style.”

For Mountain League counterpart, BEA will try to replace a pair of top scorers. Eagles coach Bill Butterworth said Brandon Gettig and Jason Jones each tallied 18 points per game as seniors last season — production that’ll be hard to replicate.

But the coach thinks his returning starters could combine to provide the offense necessary to win. Forward Noah Chambers and guards Trey Butterworth and AJ Onder were complementary last season, but will be looked upon to carry the load.

“I don’t know if anybody’s going to light it up,” the coach said. “I’m hoping one, if not all three, of those guys are able to average double digits.”

Butterworth said newcomers will have to pick up the rest of the slack for a team that scored nearly 65 points per game last year.

BEA ended its season on a six-game losing streak, something Butterworth hopes won’t carry over to the Eagles’ 2015 opener against Central Mountain on Friday.

Bellefonte also kicks off its season Friday, facing Mifflinburg at home.

The Red Raiders return three starters, but coach Darin Hazel said his team is young, and patience will be required.

That’s especially true late in games. Hazel said his team has to be better in the final period after losing five games by nine points or less last season.

“I know a lot of games, we were in the game right to the fourth quarter and lost some leads,” Hazel said. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of learning how to win.”

Hazel hopes that learning process starts on Friday.

Meanwhile, Philipsburg-Osceola is looking to avoid another winless campaign.

This season won’t be easy on the Mounties, either. Second-year coach Matt Curtis loses three seniors, and will need to maximize the athleticism of an inexperienced, but hungry roster.

Curtis said his team turned the ball over too much last year, and never found its identity.

He’s trusting that will change this season.

“They’re a young, excited group that wants to get better each day,” Curtis said. “We want to try to change the culture of Mountie basketball, get us back to winning games on a regular basis.”

SJCA has loftier expectations, as coach Richard Ciambotti wants his team playing in March — in the state playoffs.

Ciambotti’s team made a surprising run in last year’s district playoffs in just the program’s second season. With plenty of returning letterwinners and only two losses, it’s certainly possible.

Plus, the Wolves will have a home court advantage while hosting opponents.

In its first home game of the season on Wednesday, SJCA will open a new facility, the Rob and Alice Thomas Student Life Center.

“That’s helped to, in some ways, multiply what we’re able to do in practice,” Ciambotti said. “Give the guys more repetition, giving the guys more space.”

Also coming off a solid year is Grace Prep, led by fourth-year coach Dave Gindhart.

Losing four of five starters from last year is a difficult blow to deal with, though.

Jacob Gindhart is the team’s lone senior, and the Storm will require not only contributions from newcomers, but especially a level of consistency from Gindhart.

“We’re really going to look to Jacob to be a coach on the floor,” the coach said.

And in his first season at the helm, CCCA coach Bradley Sutton hopes to lead the Bulldogs to a better season than last.

In fact, Sutton said he’s expecting seven to eight wins on the season, a far cry from CCCA’s winless campaign last year.

Sutton has had to go back to basics with the Bulldogs leading up to this season, but said his players have been an enjoyable group to coach.

“For a lot of guys, basketball is not their main sport,” Sutton said. “They have a good balance of working hard and having fun.”

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 9:06 PM with the headline "Centre County boys’ basketball season preview."