Boys Basketball
McGraw Varsity Basketball 2017-2018Number Name Year Ht Position
1 George Ross JR 5’ 7” Guard
2 Tyler Card JR 6’ 1” Forward
3 Dakota Stauber SR 6’ 0” Forward
4 Kevin Shorts SR 5’11” Guard
5 Maurice Peterson SR 5' 11" Guard
11 Noah LaMarre JR 6’ 4" Center
12 Chase Curtis JR 6' 4" Center
13 Dakota Proctor JR 6’ 0” Forward
14 Evan Ignatowski SO 5’ 11” Forward
20 Brendan May JR 6’ 2” Forward
21 Mason Bleck JR 5’ 11” Center
22 Chris Pickert SO 6’ 2” Forward
*Captains
Head Coach: Matthew Martins
JV Coach: Jamey Crumb
This is my sixth season coaching the boys’ varsity program at McGraw High School with an overall record of 82-21. Our JV head coach this year is coach Jamey Crumb and Coach Pickert is our modified coach. I would like to thank them for all they are doing to help build our program. Last year we finished the season with a regular season record of 16-3 and an overall record of 19-4. We finished 10-2 in the league with two league losses to Madison. We finished second in the CCL, were ranked 20th in the state for class D schools, while earning a 2 seed in sectionals. We advanced to the sectional quarterfinals with a win over Hamilton, then defeated Stockbridge Valley in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals where we beat 3rd seeded Sackets Harbor to advance to the sectional finals. In the sectional final game, we lost to our league rival Madison. We hope to repeat last year’s successful season this year.
The players who graduated last year include Captains Devon Tuttle, David Smith and Jordan Cowen. Additionally, Tim Horner, Chris Dwyer, Carter Towsley, Travis Walker, Spencer Welsh and Dustin Hewlett all graduated last year. These players had a large impact on our team’s success last year and will be greatly missed. We wish them all the best of luck. Captains of this year’s team are Seniors Kevin Shorts and Dakota Stauber as well as Junior Chris Pickert. We will look to them to provide leadership to our team throughout this season both on and off the court. Returning players to the team this year include our seniors Dakota Stauber and Kevin Shorts, as well as Juniors Maurice Peterson and Chris Pickert, who played about half of last year’s season with the Varsity, and Chase Curtis who was brought up for sectional play last year. We will look for these players to be our leaders on the court for our team this year. Players up from the J.V. team are Juniors, Tyler Card and Mason Bleck; and Sophomore, Evan Ignatowski. Each we expect to play a significant role on our team this year. New to our team this year are Juniors George Ross, Noah LaMarre, Dakota Proctor and Brendan May. We are looking for these new guys to learn our system and then play contributing roles throughout the season.
The keys to our success this season will depend on our players working well as a team. We will try to work the ball around and get everyone involved on the offensive side of the ball. Our defense has been and will continue to be a key for our team’s success. We will try to transition our defensive effort into productivity offensively. This year we have a lot of new guys on our team and we will look to our Seniors and Captains to show leadership on the court. I also expect our younger guys on our team to play contributing roles throughout the season.
Our team is always looking to improve on the previous year’s performance. While it was a successful year for us last year our players have set even higher goals for our season this year. We expect tough league competition again this year in the CCL. Last year the CCL had 5 teams qualify for sectional play which ended with 1 seed Madison beating the 2 seed McGraw. Stockbridge Valley, DeRuyter, Cincinnatus and Brookfield all made it into sectional play, with 3 CCL teams making it to the quarterfinals. I think our league is improving each year and we expect tough league competition from everyone. We also expect tough non-league competition from Blessed Virgin Mary Academy, Marathon and Cortland in a Holiday Tournament. We want to thank our fans and the McGraw community for their support throughout the season. It is greatly appreciated.
Coach Martins