City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2017-18 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed so far can be found here.)

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HUMMELSTOWN — Every time Will Bowen wanders into the back end of the training room — in this case his head coach’s office — he can look at the wall and get an untimely reminder of how close he and his teammates came to getting where they wanted to get.

Not that the Lower Dauphin junior needs one.

“.000314,” the 6-6, 230-pound Bowen repeated recently, referring to the difference in the power ranking numbers that separated the Falcons from an Exeter squad that earned the 16th and final invite to last season's District 3 Class 5A tournament.  

“I’m pretty sure me and Coach had that number [memorized] since the second we found out last year.”

Finding out Lower Dauphin hadn’t reached the District 3 playoffs for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign — the Falcons won 48-42 at Central Dauphin East that season, then lost to top-seeded Wilson in the round of 16 — was the really hard part for Bowen and his teammates.

Head coach Rick Attivo, too.

Seems they’d already gone through several postseason workouts, yet there was another regular-season result between the end of LD’s campaign that adversely impacted the Falcons (11-11) and put them on the outside looking at a 16-team field they genuinely believed they belonged in.

This time around, however, Attivo’s surging Falcons are determined to be part of the postseason fun — perhaps at a number of levels — and the Mid-Penn Keystone Division championship chase.

“Last year, that’s tough,” admitted Bowen, one of Attivo’s four returning starters. “We had like two playoff practices and, in our minds, we were like, ‘We’re making playoffs. And when we’re in there, anything can happen.’ When we find out [that we’re out], that’s just devastating.

“You go back and look at those 11 games that we lost and how they were so close and, at the time, we thought, ‘It’s just one game, we’re fine.’ And then at the end of the season it adds up, but this year it’s definitely some motivation. We haven’t made playoffs since I’ve been here.

“That’s definitely motivation,” added Bowen, whose older brother, Tommy, was part of LD’s last postseason squad. “We want to get there. We think no matter where we’re seeded or who we play, we think if it gets to a one-game elimination [situation] we can do anything.”

Admitting LD’s off-court leadership is the best it’s been in his three-year tenure — Attivo served a lengthy tenure as an assistant coach under predecessors, Scott Barton and Mark Hofsass — the Falcons also could go as many as 10 deep as they chase the postseason berth that last season eluded them ... barely.

Seven of those 10 have been part of the LD program — including Attivo's four returning starters — while another is vying for time after dealing with physical issues the past two seasons.

While Bowen will start for the third season, he’ll likely be rejoined in the starting lineup by 6-6 junior Brian Swist, 5-10 senior Josh Saufley and 6-3 junior Ryan Becher. Jackson Becher, a 6-2 senior and the Falcons’ sixth man a season ago, probably will come off the bench again.

Others back include 6-4 senior Kyle Korczynski, 6-1 junior Blake Cassel and 6-3 junior Kobe Petrovich, who is trying to overcome the medical problems that have plagued him.

What could be a real plus for Attivo’s upbeat Falcons is the arrival of 5-10 junior Luke Hedrick from neighboring Hershey and 6-0 senior Casey Caruso from Camp Hill. Both have been parts of programs that have advanced to the District 3 and PIAA tournaments and stuck around.

Since the Becher brothers and Cassel have been part of Lower Dauphin’s back-to-back state championship runs in soccer, Attivo believes those intangibles can carry over to hoops.

“It’s going to help big-time,” admitted Attivo, whose Falcons finished 4-18 in his first season at the helm. “There’s no substitute for experience. There’s no substitute for being in competitive situations. Those two not only have been in those situations, they’ve been successful in those situations.

“When you add the fact that we have three other young men on the roster that have been through two state title runs in a fall sport, that only brings more of the mentality and the expectation of what it takes to win,” Attivo added. “When we hold each other accountable from within and when these guys that are the leaders of the team are doing that, it only makes us stronger.”

Although LD has more than enough size to outmuscle many of its opponents, having Hedrick and Caruso on hand may help the Falcons move the ball even faster than they’ve done recently.

Attivo has an interesting take on his team’s transition game, even with twin towers on the floor.

“Guards push and bigs run,” cracked Attivo, who grew up in Steel-High’s historic hoops program.

“Me and Brian have played together for I don’t know how many years during school ball season and travel in the summer, so I think we really push each other in practice,” Bowen added.

“We know how to feed off each other and take advantage of whichever one of us has a better chance of scoring on our opposing guy. Ee do a really good job on the floor of filling spots. We have really good guards who can feed us and get us the ball in good situations where we can finish.”

Guards push and bigs run certainly will come into play against a challenging nonleague slate that includes matchups with Pottstown, York Tech, Cedar Crest, Governor Mifflin and either Dallastown or Hempfield. The Falcons will open the season tonight at Mifflin County.

Same holds true in the race for a berth in the Mid-Penn Conference’s postseason tournament, especially since LD hopes to be right there with Keystone Division playmates such as Hershey, Cedar Cliff, Bishop McDevitt, Susquehanna Twp. and maybe more. Everyone is capable.

Since LD has captured just one Mid-Penn divisional title — the Falcons shared the 2005 crown with Red Land and Trinity — Attivo’s players only need to look up on the wall of the school’s gymnasium to get another of those constant reminders.

“We have the empty Mid-Penn banner up there,” Bowen cracked. “We don’t have any district banners in the gym. We don’t want to settle for anything.”

These guys will settle for wins — from Game 1 to Game 22 — and a postseason spot. They understand the importance of remaining plugged in from start to finish.

“To get off to a good start — I don’t want to say it’s crucial — but it’s going to be important,” Attivo said. “Especially when we felt we just missed something that was one of our goals last year.”

“We’ve just got to treat every game like it’s the best team we’re going to play,” Bowen added. “We can’t take any plays off, just because we think we’re better than this team on paper. Paper doesn’t mean anything when you get out on that court. When the fans are out there, anything on paper doesn’t mean anything.

"It’s just who can perform and who can compete.”

And for these determined Falcons, performing and competing begins tonight at Mifflin County.

Next week, however, LD will entertain Red Land and pay a visit to Hershey. Additional Keystone Division games against McDevitt and Susquehanna Twp. will follow.

“It gets pretty interesting early with some of the games we have before Christmas,” Attivo warned. “We’ll find out right away where we’re going to be in terms of league play.”

Still …

“We’re hoping we get out there and compete at a high level,” Attivo said. “That’s always our goal. Competing with relentless effort. And no matter what the circumstance or what adversity we’re facing, we’re always going to be a teammate. We’ll be there for each other. I think that’s the key for us.”

These Falcons also have those constant reminders — the banner on the wall in the gymnasium and the sheet of paper that hangs in Attivo’s office space — reminders they’d like to erase.

Or at least alter.

“We definitely want to get out there and get something the school’s never had before,” Bowen said. “We want districts. We want Mid-Penns. We want as much as we can get. It’ll mean a lot to Coach, to everyone who’s been in the program to get something this year.

“We’re definitely anxious. We think we can be a good team,” Bowen continued. “We want to get out there and prove we should be.”

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