by Tom Hardesty
Record-Courier
Assistant Sports Editor
How do you top the best season in school history?
And how do you replace one of your top players in school history?
Streetsboro fifth-year head boys basketball coach Todd Muckleroy doesn’t have the answer.
But Muckleroy, who is 55-34 at Streetsboro, and his troops refuse to use a certain word when it comes to the 2009-10 campaign.
“Our kids know they have to elevate their play this season to maintain the level last year’s senior class set the last two years,” he said.
“We lost 48 points of offense to graduation and these guys have taken it up as a challenge to replace that. These guys don’t want to hear the word rebuilding.”
They have some big shoes to fill.
Last season’s team finished 21-3 and reached Division II regional play. The Rockets lost a 78-50 decision to eventual state champion Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.
Streetsboro also shared the Portage Trail Conference County Division title with Waterloo with a 13-1 record.
The Rockets will have to adjust to life without 6-foot-4 All-Ohio center Robert Wilson, who finished with a school-record 1,694 points and is now playing for Urbana University.
Other key graduates included forwards Carrington Hanna and Cory Lanterman and guards Rico Smith and Justin Sabol.
In fact, the only two letter winners back in the lineup are senior guards Dan Spindler and Malcolm Brooks.
The 5-foot-7 Spindler is entering his third year as a starter, coming off a junior campaign that saw him average 7.5 points per game and dish out a school-record 150 assists.
Spindler is currently recovering from a broken ankle suffered during the football season, but Muckleroy expects him back sooner rather than later.
“He’s a guy that makes our engine go both offensively and defensively,” Muckleroy said. “He gives you that leadership offensively especially because he gets everyone where they need to be. He’s the director.”
The 6-foot Brooks is the Rockets’ other returning starter from last season’s historic team. Brooks averaged 14 points a game as a junior and his quickness, explosion and versatility allows Muckleroy to play him in both the backcourt and front court.
“Last year, Malcolm was kind of the guy that other teams forgot about on the floor because teams had to worry about guys like Robert Wilson, Carrington Hanna, Rico Smith and Cory Lanterman,” said Muckleroy. “This year, he’ll have to come into his own because teams will be keying on him now. He has a knack for getting open, scoring in traffic, scoring on putbacks and he likes to play fast and get up and down the floor.”
That works for Muckleroy. He plans on utilizing a game plan that features nonstop running.
“We like to play rim to rim and play exciting basketball, a lot of running, get up and down the floor,” said Muckleroy.
That baseline-to-baseline attack is fueled by the return of Spindler, Brooks and the recent addition of senior Jay Lugo.
New to the starting lineup in the backcourt this year will be 5-7 junior Leon Hedgepeth, who can play both the point and two-guard spots. Last season, Hedgepeth led the Rockets’ junior varsity team in scoring at 16 points per game.
“He’s a student of the game and what he doesn’t have in size he makes up for in shooting ability,” Muckleroy said.
Then there’s the 5-6 Lugo, who is very well-known in PTC circles. Lugo was a key player for the Windham Bombers as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to Field, where he was a standout for the Falcons his junior year.
Lugo transferred to Streetsboro from Field in the middle of this past football season.
“He has made a pretty good transition with the guys,” Muckleroy said. “He’s with us and he’s getting to know the guys and the program. He’s a special player.”
Also vying for time in the backcourt are 6-foot senior Vince Lavallee and 5-8 junior Edward Julian.
“Vince’s specialty is shooting the ball, no doubt about it,” said Muckleroy.
Julian is another new addition to the Rockets, moving to Streetsboro from the Cleveland area.
“He is a very quick defender,” Muckleroy said.
Brooks will spend a majority of time in the front court. Also in the front-court mix are 5-11 senior Asante Banks, 6-4 sophomore Ben Gency and 6-4 senior Mike Zitkewicz.
Banks is another well-traveled addition at Streetsboro this winter. He started out playing for the Rockets last season as a junior, moved out of the school district midway through the season and is now back at Streetsboro this season.
“He did some nice things for us last year before he left and this year, he gives us more depth,” Muckleroy said.
Gency gives the Rockets a true center down low, but he also has the versatility to push his game out of the paint.
Gency scored 14 points per game on the Rockets’ JV team last season as a freshman.
“He’s got a nice European-style game where he can score from the outside and he has an arsenal of moves for his inside game,” Muckleroy said.
In a way, Zitkewicz is yet another newcomer to the Rockets this season due to the fact that he suffered a knee injury in the second game last season and never returned.
“He’s certainly athletic and it’s nice to have another guy on the floor who’s around 6-3, 6-4,” said Muckleroy.
On defense, the Rockets plan to get in the opponents’ faces.
“We want to press and help power our offense by getting steals and layups,” Muckleroy said.
Muckleroy’s varsity assistant is Nick Marcini. Stephen Laird will guide the JV squad and Dave Leskovec will lead the freshmen.
Muckleroy believes three teams can compete the top spot in the County Division.
“East Canton has everyone returning from last year and they’re a pretty feisty team,” he said. “Waterloo has a pretty good team, you can’t count out Windham and I think Mogadore has some good athletes and some competitive kids.”
The 2008-09 campaign will surely live on forever. But the current players prefer to put last season behind them.
“These kids, now that last year is over, they’re not looking back,” Muckleroy said. “They’re looking forward to mold their own tradition in Streetsboro basketball.”
Streetsboro is scheduled to entertain Kent Roosevelt Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
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