Dec 7, 2016 4 min read

If during last season you could purchase stock in boys basketball teams with an eye toward a future payoff, then Trinity might have been your best investment. No local team was in the situation the Hillers were and had more eyes focused on the future.

Trinity won 13 games, including a Class AAA playoff victory over Mt. Pleasant, and did so without a senior on its roster.

None. Zero. Zilch.

With all five starters returning and an influx of several tall newcomers, could this be the year Trinity’s youth movement begins paying big dividends?

“I hope so,” head coach Tim Tessmer said. “That’s the million-dollar question. We should be competitive but you never know. We’ve been so inconsistent.”

Trinity began to experience good times last season as its 13 wins included a 12-point thumping of section champion West Allegheny and a victory over an 18-win Brownsville team.

The Hillers are banking on their experience to make a difference. They are confident the growing pains of two years ago and the playoff experience gained last season will help them reach their potential and make the 2016-17 season a memorable one on The Hill.

Though Trinity returns all five starters, the Hillers are still a young team. There are only four seniors on the roster but the potential is obvious.

“Our most-skilled players are all underclassmen with multiple years of varsity experience,” Tessmer said. “We had a big rebuilding project to do, to get the program back to where (former coach) Joe Dunn had it in terms of numbers of kids in the program. We were playing a lot of young players who were getting varsity experience, but that was more out of necessity.”

The returning starters are junior guard Joey Koroly, sophomore guard Jaden Nelson, junior forwards Dausen Marry and Ben Phillis and senior forward Saul Wells. With the Hillers having more depth this season, Tessmer cautions that being a returning starter doesn’t guarantee a spot in the lineup this season.

Koroly was the Hillers’ leading scorer last year at 17.1 points per game.

“Koroly has been with us since his freshman year and he understands our system. He averaged 17 points per game, ran our sets and was our leader in assists.”

Koroly forms a talented and athletic backcourt with Nelson, who Tessmer said has plenty of potential. Junior guard Dylan Kern and senior guards Conner Plunkett and Robert Nelson return and will push for starting jobs.

Phillis, at 6-5, is the only returning starter taller than 6-1. Two talented juniors, twins Jeff Ecker (6-7) and Zach Ecker (6-6), along 6-4 Stephen Schultz give Trinity options for a different look.

“They’ve finally started to grow into their bodies,” Tessmer said of the Ecker twins. “Zach is very athletic and Jeff is a fantastic shot blocker. Schultz broke his wrist last year and played in only four games but he has a ton of potential.

“What I like about this team is they are so excited about being in the gym and competing. I have 12 guys who I have confidence in and are capable of being on the floor in a varsity game.”

With more depth, size and experience, Trinity is capable of expanding its style of play. The Hillers plan to play faster on offense and try to push tempo with their defense.

“One of our goals is to play more up-tempo, to get guys to play shorter stints but to play harder within those stints,” Tessmer explained. “For us, the make-or-break thing will be our half-court man-to-man defense. We want to limit the number of quality possessions our opponent can have.”

With boys basketball in Pennsylvania expanded from four to six classifications this season, Trinity has landed in Class 5-A, playing in wide-ranging Section 1 with Albert Gallatin and Laurel Highlands in Fayette County, McKeesport, Thomas Jefferson and West Mifflin in Allegheny County and Ringgold. None of the league rivals won a section championship last year.

“We’ve been scrambling since summer to find out what we can about those teams,” Tessmer said. “West Mifflin will be good and Laurel Highlands has a lot back. “Coaches look at this as a new challenge but it takes away from some of the rivalries. Our kids used to get so amped up to play South Fayette and McGuffey. Now, we’ll be driving a lot longer to section games.”

Trinity begins its season Friday night at the Canon-McMillan Tip-Off Tournament against Latrobe, a team that won 22 games and advanced to the WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals last season.