Trib HSSN Boys Basketball Team of the Week for Dec. 20, 2021

By: Don Rebel
Monday, December 20, 2021 | 7:20 PM

A new basketball season brings hope to all programs, whether they are coming off a successful campaign or hoping to put last season in the rearview mirror.

By the looks of the 4-0 start for the Cornell boys basketball team, last season’s mighty struggles are a distant memory.

“Last year was crazy with the shutdown after playing one game,” second-year coach Sean Crummie said. “We ended up having only 10 guys on the team. The other thing is our schedule. When the shutdown happened, all of our single-A games were canceled with the exception of our section games, which is the toughest in single-A. All of our games were against much bigger schools. We competed hard, but weren’t able to sustain the effort for an entire game with such a limited bench.”

The Raiders finished 0-8 in Section 1-A and 1-14 overall with the lone victory coming in the season finale against Avella.

Roster growth this offseason was one of the first steps toward turning the program around.

“We return three seniors from last year who played a ton of minutes: MJ Smith, Patrick Scott and Carmine ‘Nooch’ D’Alessando,” Crummie said. “The biggest change to the roster is the addition of three seniors: Jason Keene, Micah Dickerson and Craig Pulford. All are 6-2 or taller. Our practices have been competitive and the guys are pushing each other to get better.”

While Scott runs the offense and D’Alessandro leads on defense, Smith continues to lead the Raiders in scoring after averaging over 18 points per game last season. Through four games, he has scored 111 points for an average of nearly 28 per game.

The boost in offense has been nice for Cornell, but Crummie believes what they have done when opponents have the basketball has played a big role in their early season success.

“Our defense, I would say, has been the main reason we have won our first four games,” he said. “We have been down in every game but wore teams down with our pressure and have been able to win the third and fourth quarters.”

For years, Sean and his brother Devin were assistant coaches under their father, Chuck Crummie, at Central Catholic, where both played under their father.

Sean has added his dad as an assistant coach this season. While the roles have been reversed and having a man who was a head coach for 39 years, won 653 games and has the Central Catholic court named after him at Alumni Hall is pretty neat, Chuck is still dad.

“I can best compare to driving a car with my dad riding shotgun,” he said. “I have been driving long enough to know where to go and get us to our destination without crashing the car and he trusts me to drive, but every once in a while, he shows me a shortcut, helps me merge onto the highway or lets me know there is traffic ahead.”

While Cornell has definitely improved this season, so have other teams in the rugged Section 1-A.

“The section should be tough again this year,” Crummie said. “We will be ready to give our best effort, and if we can continue to do that and learn to play a little smarter and a little together, we should continue to improve as the season goes on. Hopefully that can lead to the playoffs.”

2021 Trib HSSN Boys Basketball Teams of the Week

Week 11 – Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chargers

Week 10 – Upper St. Clair Panthers

Week 9 – Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chargers

Week 8 – Ellwood City Wolverines

Week 7 – Sewickley Academy Panthers

Week 6 – Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions

Week 5 – Gateway Gators

Week 4 – Frazier Commodores

Week 3 – Shady Side Academy Bulldogs

Week 2 – Fox Chapel Foxes

Week 1 – Thomas Jefferson Jaguars