Dryden boys basketball begins IAC, sectional title defense

Last season was nothing short of historic for the Dryden boys basketball team. Not only did the Lions break a 39-year IAC championship drought, they also won their first-ever Section IV title. If they want to successfully defend those triumphs, they'll have to do so with a new-look squad.

The Lions graduated four of their five starters from last year: the All-State trio of Xander Scott, Peter Nydam, and Danny Murphy as well as Luke Eshelman. With a more youthful setup this time around, the start of the campaign has had its fair share of challenges. The Lions have lost their first three games, as of December 15.

While this season's team looks radically different from last time out, the culture of accountability that the graduating seniors left behind remains as strong as ever. From the few returning players stepping into new roles to the many newcomers from the junior varsity team, the Lions are more motivated than ever to maintain the program's level of prosperity.

“There's this expectation of success and playing competitive basketball, playing hard for all 32 minutes,” said head coach Zack LeViere. “Over the course of my coaching career, there's a higher intensity level as we're scrimmaging and playing in practice.”

Along with this year's roster being a lot younger and having less experience, it's also a smaller squad. One of the big advantages from last year's team was their sheer amount of height with six players clocking in at six feet or taller. This year? Just one player (Carmelo Miles) is exactly six feet tall. As the playing style adapts to the different personnel, fine-tuning the basics of basketball will become even more paramount.

“This year we don't have that same security blanket,” LeViere said. “The fundamentals become even more important to make sure that we're not giving up those easy drives, to make sure that we are rotating into the right spots on time because we don't have the length to make up for a slow rotation or a bad closeout.”

Miles is the lone returning starter from last year. The senior is coming off a prolific fall campaign on the gridiron, and he's hoping to make his final season on the court just as special.

“It's been great to see his leadership in practice and see him growing into that role as a senior,” LeViere said. “He's always been a hustler, a hard-working positive guy in practice and in games and on the bench, and it's been great to see him taking on more of a leadership role. He's always been that guy who's been positive and a good teammate, and now he just gets to do more of that and have his voice heard more.”

The only two other returning players are juniors Masyn Holmes and Joe Oliver. Holmes will share captain duties with Miles, while Oliver was called up midway through last season. Both will see an elevated amount of playing time as they enter the starting lineup.

“I'm excited for both of those guys as really good ball handlers, good guards who play hard, who love basketball,” LeViere said. “There are growing pains. Masyn had a few turnovers and we're looking for Joe to find his rhythm offensively. But I think that there are big things ahead for both of those guys once they start to get a feel for playing with their teammates.”

The Lions will be boosted by the return of Xavier Washington. A member of the varsity team two years ago, the senior did not play last season. Completing the lineup is freshman Valentino Battaglia.

“It's really a mix of guys who haven't played a ton of basketball together,” LeViere said. “Valentino hasn't played with any of those guys on an organized team before. It's going to be figuring out how to play together, how to read each other on offense and defense as we get into the season. That's one of those points as a team that I see us having a lot of opportunity to get better.”

The Lions have two titles to defend. Repeating as sectional champions will be an arduous task in a loaded Class B. But they have a strong chance at winning the IAC North Large Division and playing for another IAC championship, as the three other teams have also seen plenty of turnover. Lansing and Trumansburg each graduated All-State duos—Jordan Sidle and Ryan Pettograsso for the Bobcats, Nik Nelson and Mason von Gordon for the Blue Raiders—while Whitney Point lost a couple of seniors.

Although Dryden has gotten off to a slow start, optimism remains high for a young and hungry pack of lions.

“They played like a younger, more inexperienced team with a lot of turnovers,” LeViere said. “That's to be expected with the fresh faces on the team. I'm excited because I expect to see a lot of growth this year.”