Dec 15, 2024 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

The Laurel Highlands boys basketball team struggled last year to the surprise of no one after losing a large, talented senior class that included stars Rodney Gallagher III and Keondre DeShields to graduation.

The Mustangs went 2-20 under first-year coach John Smith, who stepped in for Rick Hauger, with a vastly inexperienced team. Smith didn’t feel his team was as bad as its record.

“I believe there were seven games we lost by single digits,” Smith said.

While Smith does have some veteran players returning this season his team was not only bumped up a classification to 5A but also put in the very talented Section 1.

“When they released the sections and we saw the schedule, I knew that we were going to be up against it,” Smith said. “In my opinion, we’re in the toughest section in 5A.”

Section 1 also includes Fayette County rivals Uniontown and Albert Gallatin, along with Penn-Trafford, Gateway, Franklin Regional, McKeesport and Latrobe.

“I got an entire offseason to really work with the boys,” Smith said. “Last year’s group, they were great, hard-nosed kids. I had five seniors on that team but they had almost no varsity experience. Now I’ve got some guys coming back that got some varsity experience last year.”

Smith’s starting five at the beginning of the season were senior guards Antwan Black and Aiden Black, senior center Brennen Varney and junior forwards Sevi Vecchiolla and Luke Martin.

Smith hopes to have a balanced offensive attack rather than rely on one or two players to produce points.

“I really try to play team-style basketball and take what the other team gives you,” Smith said. “That’s my coaching philosophy. What I’m hoping for is for us to be patient, be disciplined. Hopefully we can stay composed and we can compete and open up some eyes. We’ve definitely got some athletes and we’ve got a little bit of size which we didn’t have much of last year.

“I can see Antwan and Aiden getting out in transition and scoring a lot of buckets. Aiden has a nice mid-range game. Luke has a nice touch around the hoop. Sevi is big and can bang inside, Varney can get some offensive rebounds and some putbacks. I hope we can be a well-rounded team.”

The Mustangs go much deeper this season as well, according to Smith.

“I’ve got two sophomores that will be coming off the bench real quick, Kayden Smith and Tyrone Burton,” Smith said. “Burton has good size. Smith can shoot the ball well and grew a good bit the last year. Another sophomore, Jude Packrone, will probably get some varsity minutes as well. And I also have another senior, Nico Harim, that will be seeing a considerable amount of varsity time.”

Smith’s coaching staff returns junior varsity coach Shandon Marshall and assistant coaches Jonathan Krizner and Paul Eckert, with one other addition, that being Hauger.

Laurel Highlands is not only in a rugged section but faces a tough non-conference slate also.

“I know we only won two games last year and that goes on my overall coaching record, but that’s not why I do this,” Smith said. “I want to play the best and I want Laurel Highlands to be one of the most respected basketball programs there is. I believe there’s only one way to do that and that’s to play the best teams you can.

“I wanted to make sure the non-conference games that I scheduled are going to be what we need to get ready for section play.”