On Dec. 29, 2012, we wrote the following in a post on this blog, referring to the Lebanon County high school basketball talent pool: “We have more players with college-level ability now than we’ve had in many years and most of them are underclassmen.”
On that list of players, we listed Northern Lebanon’s Sam Light and Richard Iwuagwu, Cedar Crest’ s Andrew Eudy and Evan Horn, Lebanon’s Blayde Reich and New Covenant Christian’s Nate Dawson. All were juniors except Horn, a freshman, and Dawson, a senior.
Dawson enrolled at Lebanon Valley College but had his season limited to four games by injuries. At 6-8, Dawson is the tallest player on the Flying Dutchmen’s roster and showed enough in the four games he did play, all before Christmas, to give hope that he can be a contributor to the team in future years if he can get and stay healthy. With Nick Pappas, a 6-6 senior and the only other player over 6-4 on the team, missing the entire season after a preseason knee injury and surgery, Lebanon Valley did well to hang in the playoff race into the final week of the season. Lebanon Valley wraps up its season with a 3 p.m. home game against Stevenson Saturday. Pappas is planning to come back and play next year.
Now back to those other guys we named early in last year’s high school season. The four players on that list who are now seniors — Light, Iwuagwu, Eudy and Reich — are all in the process of making college decisions.
All four are being recruited by Lebanon Valley, which will lose only starting forward Joey Giangiobbe and guard Mike Fasano from what can fairly be called an over-achieving team.
Light, Eudy and Reich attended LVC Coach Brad McAlester’s summer camps and are familiar with McAlester and his staff. They all have other options with Division III-level programs and are working through the recruiting process.
If any or all of them do choose Lebanon Valley, what a great recruiting coup it would be for McAlester. As we wrote a year ago, Light has the look of a point guard who could excel in Lebanon Valley’s dribble-drive offense and could continue a tradition of strong lead guards. Eudy and Reich are athletic players who can get above the rim and will improve as they get stronger. At 6-6 (Eudy) and 6-5 (Reich), they would immediately help balance out a roster that is guard-heavy now. And make no mistake, Iwuagwu is the kind of quick, disruptive player who could find his way onto the floor early too.
These guys aren’t the only players Lebanon Valley is recruiting. There are at least a half dozen others who are interested and they have impressive resumes, including Andy Orr of Conrad Weiser, Mike Fox of Red Lion, Matt Tamanosky of Cumberland Valley and Sam Smith of Wilson.
So despite a season that was derailed by injuries, there is reason to believe that next year could be a very good one for the Flying Dutchmen, with All-America guard candidate Kevin Agnew and two other starters returning, along with several key reserves.
Before we leave, we should note that at least two other Lebanon County seniors could be continuing their playing careers in college next year. Forward Jorian Ginnetto of Lebanon has also talked with Lebanon Valley and, like his teammate Reich, is a terrific student. Lebanon Catholic’s Anthony Pletz recently passed the 1,000-career-point mark and is an athletic guard with good shooting range.
Decision-time is stressful for the student-athletes, their families and, of course, the coaches who are recruiting them. It’s nice to know that that local college is involved with a significant number of this year’s seniors.
Follow along on Twitter @sesnyderleb.