Moon reaching full potential
Consistency is key as Tigers prepare to defend 5A title
His first year coaching Moon in 2014, Adam Kaufman’s team won four games.
The next year, the Tigers won seven.
His third year, they won more than both previous seasons combined, going 206 on the way to a 69-62 win against Hampton in the WPIAL Class 5A championship, the Tigers’ fourth WPIAL title overall. The journey to get there made the championship all the more gratifying.
“It was great. To be honest with you, because more than anything, just to have seen where we started,” Kaufman said. “My first year we won four games. Guys that season won four games, and played hard… To see where we started and to see where we are now, it was a cool experience.”
Moon, off to a 12-2 start this season, had struggled for a few years before Kaufman took over, going 24-41 the three previous seasons after winning three WPIAL titles in a row from 2004-2006. After coaching Montour to WPIAL championships in 2011 and 2013, he took the job at Moon to coach in the same school district as his kids, making for an easier day-today schedule.
When he was hired, he implemented some changes to tailor the program to his defensive style.
“Just changing the culture of the program and getting it more to my personality and my style,” Kaufman said. “Not that the culture was bad, obviously Jeff [Ackermann] had a lot of success and was running a really good program. But just getting guys to understand what I was looking for. It took a little bit of time, but we’re getting there.”
Kaufman implemented a new system with a focus on defense — the Tigers are holding opponents to 50.1 points, the lowest scoring defense in Class 5A Section 2, while averaging 66.1 points on offense.
The defensive mindset and preparation has led to Moon’s recent success, according to starting junior guard Connor Ryan, who leads the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game, adding 4.4 assists.
“I think it just starts with how he approaches every day,” Ryan said. “Practicing a lot through the year, putting in extra time, watching hours and hours of extra film.”
“Overall the team’s strength is definitely defense and unselfishness. I don’t think we have any guys who are trying to get theirs.”
With the graduation of 6foot-7 inside man Jarrod Simmons, the Tigers have become a guard-centric team, with Ryan’s fraternal twin, Austin, scoring 16.6 points per game as a member of the backcourt. Junior point guard Jioni Smith is next with 9.5 points per game, leading the team with 5.2 assists.
At this point, the Tigers have their system down. Now, it’s about consistency, Kaufman said, in the back half of section play. In its most recent five wins, Moon has won four of them by four points or fewer. The Tigers are second in the section, having lost to Mars, 72-64, Jan. 9, with a rematch set for Feb. 2.
“To be honest, it’s been a pretty big roller coaster,” Kaufman said. “We’ve had a lot of games come down to the wire... I’m hoping we can kind of take off now.”