Pitman boys show big improvement on the basketball court
There might be nothing more difficult than a rebuilding job, especially for a first-year coach, and Ron Myers admits there were a few tough times during his initial season as head basketball coach at Pitman during the 2014-15 campaign.
There might be nothing more difficult than a rebuilding job, especially for a first-year coach, and Ron Myers admits there were a few tough times during his initial season as head basketball coach at Pitman during the 2014-15 campaign.
The Panthers were coming off a state championship the season before, and head coach Kevin Crawford had taken a similar job at Eastern.
So Myers looked for little signs that first season because satisfaction wasn't going to come in the win column.
Yet even during that 3-23 season, Myers, a major contributor as a high-scoring forward on Pitman's consecutive state Group 1 title teams in 1997 and 1998, wasn't discouraged.
"The kids played hard," he said.
Another encouraging sign was that there was only one senior on that team.
So the Panthers enjoyed some serious progression last season during a 15-12 campaign. Now this season, the improvement has continued.
Pitman took an 8-2 record into Friday's key Tri-County Classic matchup with Clayton.
A year ago, the Panthers earned a South Jersey Group 1 playoff berth, losing to Palmyra in the first round. This season, the postseason stay could be extended. With about six weeks until the postseason, Woodbury looks like the Group 1 favorite. But Myers has a team that few will relish facing.
The Panthers spread the floor, are unselfish and have the type of go-to scorer in 6-foot-2 junior guard Luke Castagna, who must always be accounted for.
Entering the weekend averaging 22.3 points, Castagna was an eighth-grader when Pitman won the state championship, and he loved how the gym was packed, the crowd acting as the sixth man, and he hoped to return to that atmosphere.
He's a third-year starter, which means he had a front-row view of that 3-23 season.
"I went from playing eighth-graders the year before to going up against 18-year-old players," Castagna recalled. "It was tough, but we learned a lot from that season."
Mostly they learned if they stuck together and were patient and dedicated they would reap the benefits of their hard work.
Speaking of patience, 5-7 senior point guard Matt Pensabene has waited his turn to be the full-time point guard. And it's been well worth the wait.
Pensabene is a pure point guard who revels in running the offense, hitting a player coming off a screen and directing traffic. He averages five assists per game and is a real pain in the neck on the other side of the ball, with his consistent pressure on opposing ballhandlers.
"After my sophomore season, you really come to appreciate a year like this one," he said.
The Panthers are a selfless group. David Gerace, a 6-3 senior who during Tuesday's win over Woodstown seemed to be on the floor more than off it because of taking so many charges.
Mike D'Orazio, a 6-1 senior, is a key all-around player who is averaging 14 points per game. If teams feel all they have to do is stop Castagna, D'Orazio and others can make them pay.
"We have plenty of scorers," Castagna said.
As the winning continues, the Panthers are earning plenty of fans. There are few better atmospheres in South Jersey than when the gym is packed in Pitman.
"It is a great community, a close-knit town that rallies around the kids," Myers said. "I see people in the stands who were there when I played."
And each game those stands seem to fill a little more as the current group of Panthers are giving the Pitman fans plenty to cheer about these days.
@sjnard