Eagles dazzle with ‘D’
No. 2-ranked squad in the state giving up only 33.6 points per game this season
DELANSON — There was no sugarcoating the message Brett Simpson wanted to convey to his new Duanesburg boys’ basketball players upon taking over as head coach prior to the start of the 202122 season. Simpson went hard and direct.
“When I stepped in front of the team when I was taking over, the first thing I said to them is I don’t want you in this gym unless you want to play defense,” Simpson said. “I told them to put everything aside, everything you have learned, because we’re going to be a defense-first program. Even with last year’s crew, even though the record might not show it, we were very tough defensively. The system we run isn’t something you pick up in a day.”
Duanesburg produced a solid 12-10 campaign last year that saw the Eagles reach the Section II Class C semifinals. Simpson’s charges have blown past that level this season as the team produced the best record in the Western Athletic Conference and then captured the WAC Cup tournament title by beating Fonda 45-39 at Futon-montgomery County Community College.
The top-seeded Eagles (20-0), ranked No. 2 in the state in Class C, begin tournament play Friday when they take on No. 9 seed Galway (10-10) at Hudson Valley Community College. Game time is 5 p.m.
“It has been great and really fun,” Duanesburg sophomore standout Jeffrey Mulhern said. “The team is great and we are all really enjoying it.”
The enjoyment Mulhern speaks about is not merely surrounding all the victories. It has a great deal to do with discovering an identity as a program, and the team’s leading scorer says it all starts with Simpson.
“Coach Simpson is the key to all of
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this,” Mulhern said. “He’s turned this program around. He has turned nothing into something. I couldn’t ask for a better coach.”
Duanesburg junior forward Ethan Thompson recalls with great reverence the day Simpson delivered his team edict.
“I feel it was good because it was needed,” Thompson said.
It is one thing to adopt a philosophy of a style to play the game. The Eagles have consumed opponents with their defensive acumen that utilizes man-to-man, a lethal 1-3-1 zone, various traps, and takes advantage of the roster’s length and athleticism. Duanesburg, with seniors Peyton Fall, Michael Leak, Kyle Williams and Owen Lohret joining Mulhern and Thompson in the main playing group, is allowing opponents to score an average of just 33.6 points per game, compared to scoring 64.3 points per outing.
“A lot of high school teams don’t have the length or athleticism. We are fortunate to have that,” said Thompson, who stands 6-foot-2. “That is what we look forward to every night. Obviously, we want to win the game. We also want to hold the other team to the least amount of points as possible.”
In the WAC Cup title game, Duanesburg trailed 38-31 with 7:07 remaining. Using their 1-3-1 zone, the Eagles limited the Braves to 0-for-9 shooting and caused five turnovers to outscore them 14-1 to end the game with the team’s tournament title.
“We take a great deal of pride in our defense and we really kicked into gear that game,” Mulhern said. “We focused and never gave up. That was the whole key to that. I love playing the 1-3-1. Ever since that day with coach Simpson, we’ve all switched over from offense to defense. We’ve all worked at it and we taken pride in playing defense.”
“I like playing man, but the 1-3-1 comes in strong and usually bothers the other team when we need it,” said Thompson, who scored six points in an 8-0 run to conclude the WAC title game win. “We haven’t had close games like that this season, so for us to be able to pull out that one after the struggles we had in the third quarter is a good sign for sectionals.”
“We got a lot of looks off of our defense, which gets us a lot of easy points,” Simpson said. “What has also become apparent in our half-court sets is these guys love to share the ball. They don’t care who scores the most points. They just want the win at the end of the night.”
Last winter, the Duanesburg girls’ basketball team captivated the community’s imagination as the Eagles went on to capture the program’s first sectional title. This season, both varsity teams are seeded No. 1 in Class C and have elevated interest in each entity.
“It is great. We have accomplished a lot this year,” Mulhern said. “The Duanesburg Youth Program comes to every game. We love their support. We’ve never had the support we’ve had this year for the boys’ program. It has been amazing. We love it. We want everybody to keep coming to games and keep this up throughout the years.”
“This is great, honestly, because after last year a lot of us put a lot of work in during the offseason,” Thompson said. “To see it pay off has been really nice. After summer league, I had high hopes for us. Did I expect 20-0? Probably not. It is really great to have two programs in the school that are doing what they are doing. It is really insane.”
Simpson, who previously coached at Saratoga Central Catholic, said the Eagles would not be where they are without the work turned in by assistant coaches Ken Mantia and George Martin. He also praised his six seniors on this season’s roster for helping to create the proper tempo and protocol each day.
“We as coaches know if practice isn’t going according to script that our seniors are going to step in,” Simpson said.