City of Basketball Love

By Genna Cottingham +
Josh Verlin
—

(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 2023-24 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

~~~

The defending champions of District 1 6A, Conestoga is entering the basketball season with its highest expectations in nearly four decades.

“Winning the first District 1 championship in 38 years, second in school history, took a team effort,” head coach Sean Forcine said. “We were undersized, we were counted out at times, but we played as a team, we played physical, and we were mentally tough."

A 2001 ‘Stoga grad, Forcine is entering his fourth year as Conestoga's varsity coach, after spending the prior 20 years there as an assistant. Last season, he guided his alma mater to its best season in recent memory; despite losing in the second round of the state playoffs, Conestoga had a monumental season, winning district title game 54-50 over Plymouth Whitemarsh on Feb 28.

The Pioneers started their season by winning 10 of their first 11 games, including an eight-game win streak, paving the way to a 17-5 regular season record, including a 12-4 mark in the Central League. A loss to Marple Newtown in the opening round of the Central League playoffs was a disappointment, but the Pioneers responded by ripping off four straight wins in the District 1 6A playoffs to capture their first crown since 1987. 

Conestoga beat Mechanicsburg 52-42 in the PIAA first round but but fell short in the second, losing 60-54 to Hazleton Area

“I feel like going back to school, everybody’s just talking about the past run,” senior Rowan Miller said. “We’ve kind of solidified our name, more people know about us around the area, around the school. (There are) questions if we’re going to do it again, if we can do better, they’re all invested, it’s a big community around Conestoga.”

The three returning starters, joined by a few talented newcomers, feel confident about their ability to overcome the losses. Conestoga graduated two starters in point guard Ben Robinson (Scranton) and wing Sam Gibbs (Bard College). 

“I feel like when you look at last year, we had a lot of success and we're not losing too much,” senior Cory Hogan said. “We lose some valuable pieces in Ben and Sam, but we do have a core together maintained. And so, we definitely have the talent to do it again.”

Hogan, Miller and wing Shane O’Brien are Forcine’s three returning senior starters, and the no-doubt core of the team. 

Miller, a First Team All-Central League selection a year ago, averaged 13 points, five rebounds and five assists per game; the 5-11 guard was a strong outside shooter (38%) and has been playing like one of District 1’s best lead guards this offseason, with Division II programs interested.

Hogan, a 6-4 forward, averaged 11 points and six rebounds per contest. Often undersized against other team’s centers, he excels as a mismatch specialist, able to stretch the floor or bang inside equally well; he’s got several D-III schools involved in his recruitment. A 6-3 left-handed wing, O’Brien averaged 11 points and four rebounds per game, hitting 70 3-pointers at a 40% clip, while also hitting 90% of his free throws.

All three had numerous double-digit scoring outings, took their turns hitting big shots and making key plays along with Robinson and Gibbs.

"Their leadership style, their energy level, their commitment to getting in the weight room, pushing the guys, but at the same time, nurturing the young guys in," Forcine said. "Making us more of a family environment, they’re great leaders and they’re doing a tremendous job so far.”

After playing so well alongside Robinson all last season, Miller should get some significant backcourt help with the arrival of Tygee Clark, a speedy 5-10 guard transfer from Cardinal O'Hara. Clark gives the Pioneers another strong ball-handler who can get to the rim and help create shots for others, and will take ball-handling pressure off Miller against teams that like to press. 

Also stepping up this offseason has been 6-3 wing Adhvik Mani, a former team manager who made the JV roster last year and now looks ready to chip in at the varsity level with his size and shooting. Sophomore Mikey D’Emelio, at 6-0, looks like he’ll contribute in the backcourt as well, as does 5-9 freshman guard Sol Onwubuariri, who’s looked confident and shot the ball well in offseason events; several others are competing for any spare minutes that might be left over.

“We're definitely trying to rub off on them," Hogan said. "This is our last year of high school basketball, so we're leaving the young guys with the blueprint of what it needs to look like to be successful in the future.”

In the Central League, Conestoga enters the season as one of a few contenders. Penncrest, which returns four senior starters from a team that won the league’s regular-season title last year (24-5, 14-2), will almost certainly be in the mix, with Lower Merion always a threat and Garnet Valley, under new leadership, lurking as well. 

The last time Conestoga won the Central League was in 2008, when it shared the title with 2008; it hasn’t won it outright since that ‘86 crew.

“I need to win a Central League championship,” Miller said. “We were just right there last year, we just needed to stay a little bit more disciplined.”

Though they have enough coming back from last year to make another run at a district title, the Conestoga boys are a little bit of an underdog entering the season from that standpoint. 

Last year’s runner-ups, Plymouth Whitemarsh, returns its top seven, led by Towson commit Mani Sajid and Penn commit Michael Pereira. And Coatesville, which features a stud sophomore in top-20 Colton Hiller and a pair of 6-7 senior forwards in Larry Brown and Jonas Chester, has similarly lofty internal and external expectations. 

Conestoga’s beaten several big-name opponents at events this offseason, has shown it’s ready to hang with anybody. But without the big-name stars, the Pioneers are flying a little under the radar. They’re used to it by this point.

“It can’t upset me any more because we proved them wrong in the past and it hasn’t changed their minds,” Miller said. “There’s nothing else I feel like we can do. We’ve proven that we can do it, we’ve proven that we can beat those teams.”

All they can do is try and prove it again.