SSA boys basketball on right track coming out of holiday break

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, December 29, 2018 | 9:21 AM

Heading into Christmas, the Shady Side Academy boys basketball team was 3-4 overall and 2-1 in section play.

The Indians suffered their first section loss Dec. 20 against visiting Valley, 72-70.

SSA coach David Vadnais remains optimistic.

“I feel our team is getting better and still has a lot of room to improve,” he said. “We’ve had two difficult losses by one point each. We had leads in the fourth quarter of both games but were unable to find a way to win.

“I’m proud of the team for bouncing back after three of the losses by earning wins the following game. Starting 2-0 in the section was a good start. Three-and-0 would have been great, but we went up against a good Valley team.

“At this point, our defense and depth are our two greatest strengths. We have done a very good job in most of the games of guarding our opponent both full-court and half-court. We are giving up under 50 points a game. Our guys have bought in, and they work extremely hard on the defensive side of the ball.

“At times, we have struggled on offense, especially in the half-court. We have had good looks but haven’t been able to take advantage of them and, at other times, struggled to execute our offense. I’ve seen improvement over the few weeks and expect us to continue to improve.”

Vadnais pointed out a few players who will be key if the Indians are to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.

“Along with Colm (O’Connor), Grady Munroe has been a leading scorer. Ronan O’Connor is our leading rebounder, and Jas Fuhrer and Mason Tomlin are doing a great job of playing point guard both offensively and defensively.”

O’Connor and Fuhrer are seniors, and Munroe and Tomlin are juniors.

“It’s good that we have so many players contributing and seeing playing time,” Vadnais said. “It keeps us relatively fresh, and it’s important to have depth in a section with a lot of tough competition.”

Marty Stewart is a freelance writer.