Biegel upbeat despite heavy losses

By Clint Anderson
Berne Tri-Weekly News
The number “19” might weigh heavily on the South Adams boys’ basketball program right now after enduring a one-win season, but the number that looms even larger is the 25.9 points per game senior Nick Teeter is taking with him as he graduates this spring.
The Starfires graduate five players – two starters in Teeter and Chase Ingle – and they take more than 31 points per game with them. For a team that averaged 54.7 per outing that’s a sizable chunk.
“We don’t have that one person we can look at and say, ‘hey, you’ve got to score points,’ We need to have three, four or five people scoring in double figures – or close to it anyways,” said Starfire coach Ryan Biegel as he spent time following last Friday’s sectional loss looking toward the future. “Look at Adams Central. I don’t think they have a single person averaging double figures and they’ve done a pretty decent job this year. That’s going to have to be our situation.”
The Starfires might also want to look to the Jets for a little direction on how to recover from a horrible funk. Adams Central is just two years removed from a 0-20 campaign, and went from four wins in 2008-09 to nine in 2009-10.
“When you’ve got just one win and a lot of people coming back, hopefully there’s only one way to go and that’s up,” said Biegel. “I want them to remember this season, remember this feeling, and remember winning just one game. What do you feel like right now?”
Biegel relied heavily upon seven underclassmen this season, regularly starting a lineup with two sophomores toward the end of the season.
Those two sophomores, Dustin Wanner and Scott Hoeppner, will be counted on to take leading roles in the coming seasons, but perhaps even more importantly will be the emergence of a dominant post presence. The lack of a regular threat in the post forced the Starfires to become quite one-dimensional, and they proved that even on a record-setting night from 3-point range that there has to be more.
Ben Meshberger seems to be a logical choice to move into a larger role in the post next season, and he had some strong moments over the final few weeks of the season. Trevor White played solidly in his first season of high school basketball, gaining a starting position; and Nick Munger enjoyed a strong run midway through the season as he moved up from a reserve role.
Others that gained some valuable experience were first-year player Taylor LeFever; sophomore Mark Muselman, who emerged as a leader of the junior varsity after Hoeppner’s promotion; and Blake Fox, who went from the C-Team to the reserve and then got some varsity minutes as the season wound down.
“We could become a lot better, but we’re going to have to work at it,” said Biegel. “We got a lot of experience this year, I think.
“When open gyms start we can’t just show up and go through the motions. You’ve got to show up, and then you’ve also got to work.
Biegel says that’s why he’s surprisingly upbeat so soon after the season ended.
“I just know that they will work hard and I know what kind of kids they are,” he said. “I know that they want to get better. We’re losing a talented player, definitely. That’s going to be a loss, but I also think we have players, capable players that maybe didn’t get a shot because of that. That’s okay, but now things have changed and they have to go at it.
“It was a learning experience from the get-go this year, and I think we learned a lot. I’m pretty excited about what we’ve got coming back to be real honest with you.”