The Orchard Park Quakers Boys Varsity Basketball team will look to build on their recent success from last season. They finished with a 16-6 record while advancing to the second round of the sectional playoffs.
The squad won the Iroquois Tip Off tournament as well as the South Towns Holiday Tournament played at East Aurora. 11 of the 15 players on the roster were seniors, so some big roles must be filled.
From last year, graduates Phil Marks and Dan Freilicher were both named to the ECIC second team Division I all star team.
Players that should have a profound impact this season are twins Dylan and Dan Anderson. They saw the most playing time for juniors last year. They are both guards/forwards who can shoot and penetrate to the basket very well.
6’7 forward Dan Kubik should haul in the majority of rebounds and will be a menacing presence down low. 6’3 forward Dan Olejniczak is an advanced shooter and can run the floor quite well for a big man.
New faces include Eric Liberatore, Alex Freilicher, Nate Wereski, Ben Shoop, Dave Morris, Tino Mancabelli and Tristan Lancaster. First year seniors include Jake Graves and Dave Crescente. Said Coach Gibson, “Expectations are that we will compete every day and try to get better at practice. If the newcomers can mesh well with the returning players, we could surprise a few people this year.”
While it is always a challenge to do so, getting back to the second round of the sectional playoffs or better does not seem too far out of reach for the Quakers if they can play as one and use team chemistry to their advantage. We will see what the upcoming season has in store.
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