PORTVILLE, N.Y. — Pete Weishan knows there’s only so much coaching he has to do, or even can do, in a senior all-star style basketball game.
After all, the coaches for Sunday’s fifth annual Big 30 Senior Classic only get about an hour of practice with their teams before their games later that afternoon at Portville Central School. Weishan, a longtime basketball coach at Salamanca and currently the Warriors’ junior varsity boys coach, will man the sideline for the New York boys. Weishan has simple rules for how he coaches senior games like this one.
“I’ve done three of them so far and it’s just let the kids play and try to play within themselves,” he said. “The only thing I stress is stay within yourself, try not to do things to try to look cool. Play the game it was meant to be played and play the way you’re capable of playing it. I think that’s the biggest thing, because sometimes you get into these senior games, they try all these alley-oops and things and they don’t really totally show their skills. And get them to play together, which I’m sure they will.”
Weishan’s counterpart, Brice Benson, the former coach at St. Marys, plans to take a similar approach.
“These are showcases for the kids, these are not about the coaches at all,” said Benson, the principal at Smethport Area Junior-Senior High School. “It’s an opportunity for them to showcase their skills. They get to meet some people who they’ve competed against for the last few years and it’s an opportunity as well for their friends and family to see them one last time on a high school court.
“There will be many people there other than the players’ parents or family members who have maybe never seen you play before and they’re going to form an impression of you as a player and a teammate and I think people always remember what type of a teammate you were so we hope the kids have a good afternoon.”
Both coaches said they accepted the responsibility at the invitation of former Bradford coach Dave Fuhrman, a Big 30 Athletic Fund committee member.
Benson said he once coached a Pennsylvania senior game in DuBois.
“The opposing coach that day was actually Dave Fuhrman,” he said, “but going back before that, which would have been 10 years prior, I played in what was back then the Northwestern Pennsylvania All-Star Game at Pitt-Bradford. I’ve played in it and coached in them before.
“The Bradford program under coach Fuhrman’s direction was certainly one of the class programs in the area and coach Fuhrman was very helpful, very supportive of other coaches within our league and I’ve always appreciated his friendship when we were opposing coaches and when he asked if I would do that, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.”
Weishan planned to familiarize himself with his roster this week, particularly the players from Allegany County he didn’t see during the season.
“The only one I know from Allegany County is (Belfast’s Adam) Enders,” he said. “We only have an hour of practice ahead of time, so there’s not much you’re going to do other than just organize them pretty much.
“Just have a couple out of bounds plays and maybe put in one or two basic, easy plays so you get someone to shoot and score. That’s about it.”
— New York’s roster includes two members of Olean’s undefeated regular season squad: Mike Schmidt and Matt Droney.
“It’s a lot of firepower,” Weishan said. “There’s a lot of people that can score, starting with Enders. I think he’s got the highest scoring average of anybody that’s going to be on the team plus of course Schmidt and Droney from Olean are good scorers and good all-around players. Enders is a good all-around player. They’re all good all-around players.
“You’ve got one of the best point guards in the area by far (Schmidt) so it’ll be interesting. I’ve got to figure out who to play when, that’s the hardest thing.”
Weishan also spoke highly of Allegany-Limestone’s senior duo of Sam Flanders and Conner Golley.
“Those two are two really solid players there, I love both those players a lot, and I got to see them enough,” he said, referring to the CCAA East I champions.
New York’s roster also includes Tyler Hedlund (Salamanca), Steven Rowland (Ellicottville), Nick Rinker (Pioneer), Chris Calladine (Andover), Joe Tronetti (Wellsville), Carter Scholla (Scio) and Gabriel Lucena (New Life Christian).
— Benson meanwhile admitted he’s most familiar with his Pennsylvania team’s members from Ridgway (Will Thompson and Jake Reynolds), where he recently worked as principal, and Smethport (Caleb Lutz).
Mark Guido, Cameron County’s head coach, will assist Benson again after serving as his assistant at St. Marys from 2004-09.
“I’m looking forward to working with him again that day,” Benson said, “and Mark will be certainly well-versed on all of the North Tier players that will be with our team on Sunday.”
The Pennsy roster includes Thompson, Reynolds and Lutz, along with Jake Walters and Marcus Brown (Cameron County), Blake Burgett (Austin), Andrew Sheeler (Otto Eldred), Evan Brooks (Galeton), Gavin Babcock (Bradford), Alec Wehler and Alex Briendl (Elk Co. Catholic) and Isaac Scholder (Johnsonburg).
One notable absence from the lineup is Coudersport star Owen Chambers. District 9’s all-time leading scorer, Chambers was selected to the team but could not participate due to a school trip.
The boys game tips off at 5 p.m. after the girls game at 3. For the first time the games will be streamed online at http://video.portvillecsd.org/athletics.
Halftime of the boys game will mark the unveiling of the Big 30 Athletic Fund’s scholarship recipients for student-athletes in the area from both New York and Pennsylvania.
