CURWENSVILLE — The Curwensville boys basketball team returns four letterwinners from last year’s team that went 11-11 in the regular season before dropping an 85-71 decision to Coudersport in the District 9 playoffs. Seniors Chandler English, Davis Fleming and Hunter Tkacik and junior Louie Tkacik all saw plenty of action last season and will no doubt be key to the Tide’s success.
“Each of the four letterwinners bring something different to the team: skill, passion and drive, enthusiasm, communication and leadership,” said Curwensville head coach Josh Tkacik, who is entering his third season at the helm of the program. “Davis is coming off of a fantastic junior campaign and has been working hard at elevating his skill set and refining his role as a team leader. Hunter finished last season shooting incredibly well and had a solid summer in our leagues. There is never a question whether he is giving everything he has when he’s on the floor.
“Chandler appears eager to make up for lost time from last year’s lingering lower leg injuries and Louie must step up into a more full-time role. He had a great eight months of growth and, like Hunter, grew leaps and bounds this summer.”
Fleming, was the Tide’s leading scorer last season, averaging 20.1 points per game, and also paced the Tide in assists (6.2) per game and steals (2.5) per contest, while also pulling down 7 rebounds per game, which was second only to Parker Wood, who was lost to graduation. Wood’s 14.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg and 1.8 blocks per game will need to get replaced as will the scoring of the graduated Grant Swanson, who was third on the team with 7.2 points per.
The Tide have plenty of players on the 15-man squad that will be looked at to fill in those minutes vacated by Swanson, Wood and Braden Holland, who were all starters much of last season. However many of them are first-time varsity players, including seven freshmen (Breck Finn, Tucker Johnson, Brody Larson, Kyle McCracken, Colby Proud, Brant Swatsworth, and Tuck Tkacik).
“Over the course of the season, we could easily have 9-10 different players on the floor getting varsity minutes,” coach Tkacik said. “Besides Chander, Davis, Hunter, and Louie, the other guys who will see varsity minutes will be juniors Evan McCartney and Tristan Wills; sophomores Trenton Best and Owen Dimmick and freshmen Breck Finn and Tuck Tkacik. Ideally, it would be great to not have to rely on a bunch of underclassmen to carry the workload, but most of these guys have put in the work this summer and as a result, have gained a tremendous amount of experience playing against stiff competition.”
As far as a starting lineup goes, coach Tkacik says it will most likely be a game-by-game decision based on a variety of factors.
“Our starting lineup will more than likely shift from game to game depending on our opponent and their schemes,” he said. “All of our guys are expected to execute when they are called upon to do so. We understand that the level of our success is directly aligned to our ability to play great individual and team defense, limiting our opponents second-chance opportunities and winning the glass on both ends of the floor. At the end of the day we have to do better at putting the ball through the net than what we did a year ago.”
Tkacik says that he expects the team’s strong athletic core, coachability and desire to win to be strengths and hopes that will help them strive for a long list of goals.
“We want to capture the MVL Championship, win our school’s first ICC Championship in boys basketball and advance to the PIAA Tournament,” Tkacik said. “We also want to average at least 1.0 points per possession in every game.”
Curwensville also has a mantra this year that it hopes to follow.
“We simply want to embody our four core principles everyday: Together, Intentional, Distinct, and Enthusiasm,” Tkacik said.
Tkacik will be assisted by James Fleming III at the JV/varsity level, while Eric Johnson (head coach), Steve Dimmick and Joe Vigliante will man the junior high ranks.
Curwensville begins its 2024-25 campaign Dec. 4 at St. Joseph’s Academy.
Roster
Seniors
*Chandler English, *Davis Fleming, *Hunter Tkacik.
Juniors
Evan McCartney, *Louie Tkacik, Tristan Wills.
Sophomores
Trenton Best, Owen Dimmick.
Freshmen
Breck Finn, Tucker Johnson, Brody Larson, Kyle McCracken, Colby Proud, Brant Swatsworth, Tuck Tkacik.
*Returning letterwinners
GOLDEN TIDE SCHEDULE:
Date Opponent
12/04 @ St. Joseph’s Catholic
12/07 OSWAYO VALLEY
12/10 @ Williamsburg
12/13 @ Juniata Valley
12/16 @ Claysburg-Kimmel
12/18 MOSHANNON VALLEY
12/20 @ Glendale
12/27 @ Clearfield
01/03 @ Keystone
01/07 @ West Branch
01/10 @ Harmony
01/13 WILLIAMSBURG
01/17 MT. UNION
01/21 JUNIATA VALLEY
01/24 GLENDALE
01/28 DUBOIS CENTRAL
01/31 WEST BRANCH
02/04 @ Moshannon Valley
02/06 @ Marion Center
02/07 HARMONY
02/10 @ Oswayo Valley
02/12 CLEARFIELD
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