Brantford Expositor Preview: Teams Plan Run And Gun

Article By:  Ed O'Leary

The Brant County high school senior boys basketball league may not feature as many talented players this season as it has in the past but it certainly won't lack for excitement.

At least four of the six teams will place emphasis on run-and-gun offences with high-pressure defences.

And don't be surprised if, by the end of the regular-season schedule, the Brantford Collegiate Institute Mustangs and their athletic players are also motoring up and down the court with the likes of the North Park Collegiate Trojans, Paris District High School Panthers, St. John's College Green Eagles and the Assumption College.

Only the Pauline Johnson Collegiate Thunderbirds, who lack depth, appear to be a station-to-station squad but they'll improve as the season progresses under first-year head coach Ryan Maracle, who is being assisted by former head coach Joe Tice.

"We're a work in progress," Maracle said as he prepared the T-Birds for Thursday's start to the season.

"We had a lot of guys on the team who haven't played organized ball before but we have a lot of strong players, guys that we can rely on to play hard."

Guard Tyler Thibert and forward Tyler Campbell will be the T-Birds' threats. The other starters are guard Mike Campbell, forward Dakota Brush and centre Dave Knevel.

PJC's top reserves are guards Zach Benin and Tyler Power and centre Jordan Lewis.

The T-Birds lost both of their games in The Expositor Tip-Off tournament a couple of weekends ago.

"We tried to play the younger guys a little more," Maracle explained. "Once they realized how much faster the game was in senior than in junior, they've been practising a lot better."

The Trojans, winners of The Expositor tournament, are probably the slight pre-season favourites.

North Park played well in losing all three of its games in the Court Heinbuch tournament in Kitchener.

The Trojans were the only AAA team in the tournament. The other 15 teams were from Quad-A schools.

North Park lost by a point to defending Ontario Quad-A champion Toronto Oakwood Barons and by two points to St. Catharines Governor Simcoe, a school noted for always producing strong teams.

The Trojans, coached by Todd Andrew, are returning four of their top eight players from last season -six-foot-five forward Brandon Webster and shooting guard Tyler Johnston along with starters Cale McDonald and Marcus Hamilton, also shooting guards.

Logan Varga is also back but he missed most of last season with an ankle injury.

Point guard Marcus Jones will join Webster, McDonald, Hamilton and Johnston in the starting lineup.

Nick Minutillo, Eric Hamilton and Varga will be the first off the bench.

The Trojans have graduated starting forwards Dave Eves and Mike Dulmage.

"We'll be a little more up tempo than we've been in previous years," Andrew said. "Obviously we're not as big with the losses of Eves and Dulmage but we'll have a more balanced attack. Each of our top seven kids is capable of scoring in double digits."

Andrew is confident the Trojans can win championships.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't be competing for a BCSSAA title as well as competing for a CWOSSA championship," he said.

The Panthers, Lions and Eagles will be very similar to the Trojans in style.

The Panthers, led by head coach Mike Wittchen, will start three guards -Josh Fabe, Jake Kelley and Adam Sharp --along with forwards Parker McIntyre and Cory Goff .

Paris District will count on forwards Taylor Shipp and Travis Taylor along with guard Scott Sippel to supply bench strength.

Fabe and Kelley are expected to be the Panthers' leading scorers but Wittchen has a warning for the opposition.

"Adam Sharp has definitely come along," he said. "Fabe and Kelley are guys that can slash and drive but also shoot. Sharp is more of a shooter."

The Panthers played North Park at The Expositor tournament.

"It was a fun game to have early in the year," Wittchen said. "North Park won but our boys felt like they could have won."

The Lions have a Grade 9 point guard in Andre Toic, a Grade 10 shooting guard in Dexter Hamilton and a Grade 10 forward Simon Sunderson.

The coaches said they felt it was better to bring them up to senior than leave them in junior for another year.

"They're more advanced than you can believe," head coach Paul Petrella said. "They're mature and definitely have the skill and ability to compete at the senior level.

"With this group of kids, we have the opportunity to compete and develop over the next three or four years, so we want to keep them altogether."

The Lions have five Grade 12 players -Jordan McCormack, Pat Wilson, Justin Robinson, Terrell Daniels and Mike Tomlinson -among their top 10. Paul Sabolski and Justin Thibideau are in Grade 11.

"We've got 10 guys who are going to contribute to the team," Petrella said.

"We have strong guard play and strong forwards. A lot of these kids have never played together but we're going to get better every single day and we'll have a great chance to compete come playoff time."

The Green Eagles, guided by head coach Nick Esposito, will use point guard Mike Perilli and shooting guard Tyler Van Leeuwen to move the ball to speedy forwards Matt Digout, Matt Kusnierz, J.P. Yurcich and Arthur Kogut.

Other key players for the Eagles this season will be Taylor Pappin, Eric Drescher, Mat Bijman, Drew Clawson and Tyler Hinds.

"We're going to be very up tempo, lots of run and gun," Esposito said. "This is probably more of an athletic team than I've had in the past. I'll tell you one thing, we don't really want to play in the half court."

Veteran head coach Bob Boos is hoping his Mustangs will be the most improved team in the league by the end of the regular-season schedule.

'We're an average team but we'll be competitive," Boos said.

"I think it's a little better team than we've had the last couple of years but we'll have to play pretty good defence."

The Mustangs will start Tyler Mirco at point guard, Robert Moxley at shooting guard, Alex Packer at small forward, Joseph Yelle at power forward and Le-Hi Milbin at centre.

Guard Brandon Moxley and forward Ben Candy will be the first players off the bench.

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