Wildcats gunning for bounce back season on the hardwood

The Shoreham-Wading River boys basketball team had its final tuneup on Saturday against Smithtown Christian with both the varsity and JV squads playing scrimmages and testing out players and plays. SWR head coach Kevin Culhane emptied his bench as the two schools dueled through five 15-minute quarters.

“It was a good opportunity to see how we would fare with our guys that haven’t seen the court much in live game situations,” Culhane said. “I would have liked to play better today like we did in our other scrimmage. This was as bad as I’ve seen our guys. We just didn’t have it together today. The effort was good but the communication and intensity I felt we lacked.”

This season comes on the heels of some impressive off-season results that perhaps shine some light on potentially winning a bunch of games this year. In the Town of Brookhaven summer league, the Wildcats made it to the semifinals after a successful regular season. They also posted a winning record in the fall session, which is quite the contrast to the last few regular school seasons.

The SWR boys side hasn’t posted a winning record since the 2020-2021 season and last year was the worst of them all, as the Wildcats won just four of their 20 games. But this team, which features mostly younger players, has the makings of a winning nucleus. 

“It’s not going to be just one or two guys who dominate the ball this year,” Culhane said. “We have, I think, seven guys that can score and play great basketball for us. They have the ability to turn this thing around and step up and help us.”

One of those players is freshman point guard, Tyler Lievre. Though he’s young, he’s got the basketball IQ to help the team come up with baskets on the offensive side of the court. In the scrimmage against Smithtown Christian, he knocked down some shots and also found wide open players for easy layups. 

Dylan McClelland, who towers over almost every other player on the court, was on the receiving end of many of Lievre’s dishes. His ability to establish a post presence for the Wildcats is something they haven’t really had in recent years. Carter Baumeister is the heartbeat of the team and a force on both sides of the ball.

Wing play will be key for the Wildcats in the coming season. The ability to knock down shots from the outside changes the dynamic of any team. Max Boerum has shown promise and come up with big baskets from the outside more consistently than anyone else on the team. Jack McInnis, James Cook and Zach Makarewicz give the team that extra energy and can also score with the best of them. They’ll be rotated in and out as Culhane fine tunes the lineup.

“I think the biggest difference this year is that we actually have basketball players,” Culhane said. “We always have had athletes that also play basketball in the years past, though we could probably match anyone’s energy level. Getting shots to fall in the hole was another challenge.”

The top players this year haven’t played major minutes yet for varsity; while there will be some expected growing pains, the talent level is there to make the playoffs. It’s just about them buying into Culhane’s system and playing the way he wants them to play.

“The communication on the court is the biggest thing for us,” Culhane said. “I think the effort is there for the most part. I know this sounds simplistic but we just have to execute the offensive and defensive situations. They need to know each situation and how to react properly. We need better ball pressure and recognition of what the other team wants to do. And ultimately, offensively we need to run our plays flawlessly so we get those open shots.”

The Wildcats will play a few non-league games before opening up their league season Dec. 9 at Kings Park.