City of Basketball Love

Thomas Primosch (@ThomasPrimosch)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's "Prepping for Preps," our series of articles previewing area high school teams for the 2015-16 season. For the complete list of schools previewed so far, click here)

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Germantown Friends far exceeded expectations last year, making it to its first Friends League championship game since 1997.

After a 10-12 record and first-round loss in the Friends’ League playoffs in 2014, the Tigers' going 21-5 and getting to the championship game last year was one of the bigger surprise stories of the area.

GFS eventually lost 52-44 to powerhouse Westtown in the FSL final, but just getting there was no small feat. The fact that the game was a back-and-forth affair between a Moose team loaded with high-major Division I talent and a Tigers’ squad that didn’t have a single player over 6-foot-2 spoke volumes to the dedication and preparation of last years team.

“It was great for the school and it was great for the program,” third-year coach Shawn Werdt said. “It showed that hard work pays off.”

For Werdt, replicating that success will be a challenge. The Tigers lost four seniors who started on and did almost everything for last year’s team, and will need key contributions from new faces this year if they want to compete.

There was 5-11 scoring guard Ray Leon, who could get a shot off seemingly whenever he wanted. The "frontcourt" was 6-2 forward Andrew Aldridge, who wasn't afraid to battle for rebounds with players like Westtown 6-11 forward Mohamed Bamba. And the twin point guards, Jamil and Jalil Pines-Elliott, who ran Werdt's offense and locked down on defense.

Last year, Werdt coached an athletic team that loved to play pick-and-roll and drive to the basket. This year he doesn’t have the luxury of giving the ball to someone and letting them create for themselves.

“This year’s team is a little bit limited athletically. We don’t have three or four guys that can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket but what we do have is a team that shoots the ball better,” said, Werdt who became the head coach at Germantown Friends in 2013 after coaching as an assistant at Philadelphia University.

This year’s team is extremely young and inexperienced, but Werdt has one player he’s confident in handing over the reigns to.

“There’s a lot of question marks of who’s gonna step up and lead the next team and I think it’s gonna be Mike Buckmire,” Werdt said.

On a team that had 1000-point scorer Leon, now at Chestnut Hill College, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Buckmire wasn’t asked to do much on offense, last year but that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of carrying the load.

As a sophomore, the lanky guard did his best work on the defensive side of the ball, garnering most of his points from spot-up 3-pointers and sneaky putbacks. He has cool demeanor on the court and was unfazed as the only underclassmen in a lineup of seniors last year.

This year. the offense will revolve around him and he will need to do most of the scoring for a GFS team that could be offensively challenged.

“It’s going to be on me to be the engine of the team,” he said.

For Buckmire, the transition is also one that is taking place off the court. Being a co-captain of the team, he recognizes the need to lead by example and set the tone for practices and games.

“Trying to help them, give them different nuances, give them a little knowledge about what’s happening in the game. Trying to get them up to speed,” Buckmire said.

Joining Buckmire in the backcourt will be co-captain Charlie Dolgenos, the lone senior on the team.

Dolgenos will share the ball handling responsibilities with Buckmire and the pair will try to form a backcourt tandem where they have interchangeable roles, similar to how the Pines-Elliots played for the Tigers last year.

“Charlie and Mike, the leadership where they’ve been able to pick up where the last group left off, both those guys have been great,” Werdt said. “Both really gym rats, making sure the young guys understand what the GFS basketball program is all about.”

Chemistry issues shouldn’t occur for the Tigers but at times they will struggle to score the ball.

One guy who Werdt thinks could help alleviate some offensive shortcomings is junior Sam Istvan.

“He can really shoot the ball, I think he’s going to be really valuable,” Werdt said when asked about Istvan who split time between JV and varsity last year.

Istvan has a smooth lefthanded stroke and if his shooting prowess translates from JV to the varsity level, he could be a key cog for the Tigers.

Other players who will see significant minutes include Isaac Myran, a sophomore wing who Werdt says would “run through a wall” if asked to. Myran was a defensive specialist as a freshman last year but, like Buckmire and Dolgenos, will be more involved in the Tigers offensive gameplan this season.

Sophomore Pietro Berghella was the first sub off the bench for last year’s team before he broke his wrist. Berghella is 6-6 which makes him one of the tallest players in the Friends League and it will be up to Werdt to try and utilize the big man’s physical tools.

Making it to the championship again will not be an easy task for the Tigers. However, Werdt is not entirely focused on returning to the final game and he chuckled when asked if that was the goal again this year.

“Our expectation every year I’ve been here has been to make the playoffs. That’s our expectation and that’s not going to change. I think that with our team that we have, my goal is to get to the playoffs, get that top-five spot,” Werdt said.

If the Tigers can stay healthy and play with the same energy they played with last year, they should find themselves right in the mix come February.

After last year, they know anything's possible.