Lansing boys heating up near postseason

Lansing boys basketball started its season with five straight wins, pushing the team into the New York State Sportswriters Association rankings Dec. 21. Since then, they’ve played several of the top teams in the IAC and have seen their record slip to 10-5 after the undefeated start. However, with two straight wins and three games remaining, the Bobcats are primed to end the regular season on a high note.

The latest wins include a nine-point triumph over Dryden, the third victory Lansing has had over the IAC North Large division-leading Lions, and a 58-57 win over divisional foes Whitney Point. Head coach Joey Volpicelli discussed heating up heading into the postseason.

“Everybody wants to start playing their best basketball come February,” Volpicelli said. “Our losses, we’d like to win them. We’d like to win every game, but we lost to some pretty good basketball teams. I can’t be too upset. We’ve looked at some stuff, made some minor changes, and hopefully, we can turn the corner and keep moving forward coming off our win over Dryden on Friday.”

Lansing has certainly played the best the IAC has to offer, with the teams it lost to owning a combined record of 53-13. Volpicelli talked about what he’s learned from the losses and how he’s adjusted things late in the season.

“We’re right there,” he said. “There are a few things defensively that we’ve kind of tweaked. We’ve really been working on putting the ball in the basket because in that stretch that we lost those games, we struggled to score. We’ve moved some pieces around. We tried to do a few different things. We’re trying to get out in transition a little more. Dryden is a pretty good team, and we finally kind of put some things together and scored 71 against them. It’s starting to come.”

One key part of the three wins over Dryden has been the play of senior center Sam Bell, who has gone toe to toe with the Lions’ dominant center Xavier Scott. Volpicelli talked about the impact of Bell, who’s in his second year on the varsity team.

“Sam’s been great,” Volpicelli said. “Sam has been probably the most consistent on our team all year. Having an inside presence is always nice. When you can throw it inside and expect to score, it opens everything else up outside. He really anchors us defensively as well. We’re trying to put more pressure out on the perimeter and feel confident that, if we do get beat out there, Sam’s back there anchoring. He’s going to step up to help and make it difficult for someone to finish.”

Of the 14 players on the roster, 10 are seniors. However, only one player is on their third year of varsity, and that’s three-sport standout Carson Crandall. Teams have honed in on stopping him, allowing other players to step up.

“Teams know [Crandall],” Volpicelli said. “Last year, during COVID, was different, so we really didn’t play a full season against all the teams that we normally play. So, Sam Bell, Tomas Vence, Eric Khan, teams kind of know who they are, but they don’t really know who they are. But Carson was up, so a lot of teams’ gameplans are around Carson. Some people might think that Carson’s stats aren’t as good as they’ve been the last couple years. But in reality, he’s doing a lot of things behind the scenes that don’t make the box score like drawing a second defender. He’s a huge part of the team.”

With only a few games remaining until the Section IV playoffs and a potential IAC Championship appearance, Volpicelli talked about what his team looks like when everything is firing on all cylinders.

“We are a team that is a pretty tough and physical team on the defensive end,” he said. “We’re up in teams’ faces and making it difficult, then running in transition, even though we don’t want it to be a track meet. But if the transition’s there, Sam Bell’s running down the middle, and he’s a cross-country runner. I’d like to put him up against everybody when it comes to conditioning. If we can constantly keep going and turn the defensive skills into transition threes, that’s when we’re playing our best.”

With the potential to take a five-game win streak into the postseason, Volpicelli’s original goals are still very much in play.

“Our first goal was to win the division,” Volpicelli said. “We’re still there. That goal is still achievable. Every game that we’ve had has been fairly close. If you look at it, people want to say that Watkins Glen and Moravia are the best teams in the section. Well, we were playing right with them. So, who says we can’t win the whole thing? Who says we can’t win a sectional title? That goal is there. I think it is obtainable.”

It will be a rematch with Whitney Point on Feb. 2, followed by a matchup with Trumansburg on Friday. The season then concludes against Groton on Feb. 11. Ending the season with three wins could make a positive impact on sectional seeding, helping the Bobcats achieve the postseason success Volpicelli is hoping for.

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