Baker Counsels Patience

by John Lipez

cm-basketballBALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – The 2012-13 season turned out to be one of the best in Central Mountain’s 16 year hoop history:

A 16-7 mark (after a 0-4 start), the school’s first-ever District 6 playoff win and a missed put-back away from the school’s first-ever district title.

But that was then and this is 2013-14 and Wildcat coach Scott Baker knows this year’s inexperienced group has a lot of work to do.

Talk to Baker and you hear him say the squad is, among other things, “really, really young,” “there’s a lot of teaching to be done,” “a work in progress.”

But Baker doesn’t buy the “rebuilding” cliché. “If the kids buy into what we’re teaching there is enough talent to win some games; we can be competitive but it’s not going to be easy.”

Early on Baker counseled patience, but even with that the 11 or12 players battling for varsity time “have to play hard every play.”

An obvious hole from a year ago was do-everything guard Cole Renninger, now playing varsity ball at Lehigh. Renninger accounted for better than 27 points a game last season.

Baker said he is not asking his returnees to put up Renninger-like numbers themselves; instead, he said, he is looking across the board for some of his newcomers to score 6 to 8 points a game.

The Wildcats do return two senior starters in 6-foot Tyler Everhart (10 ppg last year) and 6-2 Travis Turchetta (6 points a game a year ago); Turchetta had been held back by a late season football injury but has been cleared to resume play.

Baker mentioned two 6-3 inside players holding their own in preseason play in senior Luke Stevenson and junior Nick Moore.

The Wildcat inside game may also get a boost, if he gets healthy, from first-year player Tyler Pavalko but the football standout has been hampered by recurring shoulder problems.

Others vying for playing time include 5-10 senior Brett Peddigree; 5-9 junior Wes Jolly, 5-11 sophomore Alex Garbrick; the Meeker brothers, senior Tanner and junior Ty; and 6-2 senior Kyler Klein.

Beyond Everhart, Baker said, a number of players are in the mix to provide guard play, anchored a year ago by Renninger and the since graduated Luke Wise.

The Wildcats are to open the new season this Friday and Saturday at the Mifflin County Tip-Off Tournament. First home game will be next Tuesday with Loyalsock High School.

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