Brandywine Heights looking to get back to its winning ways
After four straight winning seasons, the 2013-14 season was a down year for the Brandywine Heights High School boys basketball team. The Bullets were just 3-7 in the Berks League and 4-17 overall. Although there will be just one senior on the team, there are many juniors back who have plenty of varsity experience.
Yes, the team did lose the leading scorer for last year, Sean Ziegler, and team leader Bryce Galczynski to graduation, but there is enough talent coming back to make this season a winning one. Head Coach Ryan Wehr is optimistic about his 2014-15 team.
“Our coaching staff is really excited to see how well we are able to compete this year,’ said Wehr. “We lost several key players to graduation, but return a bunch of guys who played lots of varsity minutes last year as sophomores and juniors. Last season we did not execute as well as we had hoped we would, but our coaches are excited to have a bunch of guys back for a second season in our system to hopefully execute more consistently. Our staff is excited to be able to prepare our players to go out each night and perform well for all four quarters. ”
Leading the way among returning players is Jake DeLong, the one senior on the squad. He can play either guard position and was second on the team on scoring, and 10th in the league last year at 14.2 points per game.
“We’re expecting him to be able to create scoring opportunities for both himself and his teammates this year,’ said Wehr. “Jake is an outstanding vocal leader and plays with a lot of heart.’
Back for his junior season is guard Niko Jorge. He too can play either guard position and is coming back after averaging 5.6 points a game last year, fourth on the team. He started most games last year for the Bullets and contributed heavily with strong defense. This year, he will be counted on to do some more scoring to help make for the scorers lost to graduation.
Michael Unis is a junior forward who saw plenty of playing time last year. Wehr likes his quickness and agility that he acquired playing soccer.
” He has great instincts as a defender both on and off the ball,’ said Wehr. “We’re encouraging him to become more aggressive looking for his shot and helping us out offensively.’
Ben Flicker is a junior guard who was an effective point scorer off the bench las tyear. He had a strong finish to the season and the coaches are hoping he continues his improvement this year. He could be a strong perimeter scorer for the Bullets.
There isn’t a lot of height on this team, so they will have to rely on their speed and quickness. They are planning an uptempo style of play with an aggressive defense bent on getting turnovers.
“Our team goal is really just to compete for all 32 minutes each night we’re on the floor,’ said Wehr. “We talk a lot about playing hard, playing smart and playing together. Last season we felt like we played hard and played together a large majority of the season. However, we didn’t always play smart. We’re looking to consistently make better decisions, especially when we have the basketball, which we’re hoping will lead us to be in position to win games late in the fourth quarter.’
The 2013-14 season was the first season under Coach Wehr and his staff. There were some growing pains last year and hopefully they have the system down right from the start of the season. That alone should help the Bullets improve their record.
“We’d really like to do a much better job taking care of the basketball this season,’ said Wehr. “Last year we averaged around 15 turnovers a game, many of which were unforced errors on our part. If we can clean that up, we feel we’ll be in much better shape to compete throughout the regular season.’
