BBHHS boys and girls varsity basketball teams prepare for season

by John Benson

After losing two basketball/football players (Michael Rose and Sam Wiglusz) to graduation last season, Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School boys basketball head coach Steve Mehalik said this year’s squad hopes to again make toughness a defining characteristic.

“The guys that played last year are now giving that toughness to our young guys,” Mehalik said. “As a team, we’re young and we’re small, for sure, but I like this group. Every practice has been fun. We have some guys who have played varsity baseball, varsity football, so they may not be normal sophomores and freshmen.

“Also, this fall, we’ve scrimmaged some of the best teams around. I always feel that helps our guys. We’ve taken some lumps but competed. I’m excited because I really don’t know what to expect. I do know it’s going to be fun.”

Returning starters include seniors Kenny Ganley and Thomas Green, as well as sophomore Joe Labas. Other players of note are freshman Tyler Ganley, sophomore Tommy Barth, sophomore Jeremy Jonozzo, junior J.C. Sejba, junior Ryan Knaack, senior Jacob Henyey, senior Jack Winegard and senior Kaleb Austin.

Mehalik expects Kenny Ganley to play a key role this season.

“It’s been fun watching his evolution as a basketball player,” Mehalik said. “He can do just about everything on the basketball court, from shooting the three and bringing the ball up to playing a post man. We’ve already told Kenny to be ready to play all five spots. It’s nice when you have a player that talented.”

It’s also nice to have a healthy Kenny Ganley, who last season played through a football injury.

“We didn’t let it out last year, but Kenny played the entire season with a torn labrum,” Mehalik said. “I didn’t realize how painful and serious of an injury that was until I saw the long and grueling recovery period after he had surgery at the end of the year.”

New this year, the team is headed West over Christmas break. The squad has a five-day trip scheduled to Phoenix for the Cactus Jam high school tournament.

“This is the first year we’re going somewhere for Christmas break,” Mehalik said. “It’s hard with the Bees holiday wrestling tournament. We really don’t have a place to practice. The kicker was last year, we had one game over Christmas break. That’s tough.

“So this will be a great team-building experience. We’re going to go to a Phoenix Suns game, an Arizona State game and the Grand Canyon.”

Mehalik said the goal is for the team to take a similar trip each year.

“By continuing to build the program, you get kids who don’t want to just play one sport,” he said. “They’ll play multiple sports, and that helps our program become one of the best around.”

Girls basketball

First-year girls head coach Greg Roderick said last year’s squad graduated six seniors. This year, he expects team leaders to be senior Christy Pitzer, junior Thai-Lin Pierce and junior Kayla Brooks.

“They’re our most experienced returning players, and we’re leaning on them to lead our team,” Roderick said.

The coach is also pointing to sophomores Rosie Taylor, Lana Tso and Maya Watson as key members of the squad.

“They all had good seasons at the JV level, and we hope that success translates to the varsity level,” Roderick said.

Considering the lady Bees play in what Roderick called one of the toughest conferences in the state of Ohio, with the likes of Wadsworth, Twinsburg, Stow and Nordonia, he’s hoping the players learn what it takes to be a winning program.

“We want to build a culture where the girls gain an understanding of the types of things it takes to be successful,” Roderick said. “Our goal is to be competitive with those teams as quickly as possible.”

 

Featured image photo caption: The BBHHS boys basketball team is focusing on toughness for the 2018-19 season. Photo by J. Kananian