The Section IV basketball season is underway, and the Trumansburg boys basketball team has gotten off to a strong start under new leadership.
The Blue Raiders are 2-0 thanks to a pair of double-digit wins over Bainbridge-Guilford (66-31) and Whitney Point (67-47). Erick Whelpley is their new head coach, but he's more than familiar with most of the team after leading the junior varsity team for the previous two seasons. The move up to coach varsity made perfect sense for Whelpley.
“Being a varsity coach has always been an aspiration of mine,” Whelpley said. “I'm a high school teacher, and being a coach was part of that goal. I'm from a basketball family, and luckily enough, my wife was okay marrying into a basketball family. She is one great scout and assistant, so having all that and having those supports in place really made the right combination of things for me to make this leap.”
Whelpley takes over from Paul Pennock, who was at the helm for over two decades. With so much experience under his belt, Whelpley has soaked up endless amounts of valuable information on what it takes to excel at the varsity level.
“Some of the biggest things I've learned from him is integrity in everything I do, not just in sports but in life,” Whelpley said. “Also because of him, my communication as a teacher and as a coach is just miles better than when it was when I first started. I've been approaching these players as people first, students second, then athletes third. It sounds simple, but it has gotten me to have better communication with my players and people in general. I feel like that's why he gets so much out of players.”
Whelpley has gotten plenty out of the Blue Raiders in the early stages of this season and during his outstanding time in junior varsity. Over those two seasons, they went 31-4 and made the IAC championship game both times, winning once in 2021-22. Of the 13 players currently on the roster, 10 of them were on that IAC title-winning team.
This past season, two players in particular made a name for themselves in their debut varsity campaigns: Nik Nelson and Mason von Gordon. The juniors were both named as IAC Second Team All-Stars, a clear indication of their seamless transitions to the top level.
“Nik's a leader,” Whelpley said. “At this point, we understand each other and have a great coach-player relationship… He just wants to compete and win, and he'll do whatever it takes to win. He gets those guys going. It's a different level of speed and intensity when Nik's on the court… We call Mason von Gordon ‘MVG is MVP.' He's a big X-factor. In terms of the offense alongside Nik, it's a good duo there. He's really come a long way, and his confidence is growing, which is great to see.”
Another key returner is Chandler Wright, as he led the Blue Raiders in rebounds last time out. As one of five seniors, Wright will certainly be even more motivated to help guide the team to greater heights in his final season.
“I think the word leadership explains it all,” Whelpley said. “He is a true leader just in every aspect. He's a competitor. I know he's had success in all the sports, but that kid is a winner and he is a leader. It's amazing to see him just pull everyone together to try and get the job done.”
Unlike other sports in Trumansburg, both basketball teams have moved up to Class B this season. This now means that all four teams in the IAC North Large Division—Trumansburg, Lansing, Dryden, and Whitney Point—are all in the same class. Not only will their battles have big implications for the divisional title, they'll also now be potential previews to future postseason bouts.
“It's great competition,” Whelpley said. “Those games are always good high school basketball games, and the divisional ones become even more important because you play them twice… I think you'll see a lot of games are going to be a lot tighter as teams are more familiar with each other and it becomes a really good, competitive league.”
The biggest goal for the Blue Raiders is to make sectionals, something that hasn't been achieved since 2017. Whelpley has seen how successful many of the other sports in the school have recently been—namely volleyball, soccer, cross country, baseball, and football. He believes it's time to bring some playoff basketball back to Trumansburg.
“I think the biggest thing is the system of basketball they're playing right now,” Whelpley said. “A lot of people are knowing their roles, accepting their roles and not trying to do too much or too little. In terms of the players, they're buying in right now because we're being successful. There's a lot of trust in how we play, and it becomes fun because you're buddies and you're just having fun, and I think that's contagious. That's high-energy.”
Story Tags
Related
