November 27, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHC men look to make strides in Division II
by TOM UTESCHER

Chestnut Hill College tri-captains (left to right) Tom Magnum, Larz Jeter, and David Goode, with Griffins head coach Jesse Balcer.  (Photo by Tom Utescher)

After just one season of competition in NCAA Division II, the Chestnut Hill College men’s basketball team isn’t expected to make a huge leap forward, but as the Griffins start to bring in more D-II caliber players, they believe they’re taking steps in the right direction.

Chestnut Hill saw its first action of the 2008-09 campaign at West Chester University’s tip-off tournament. Facing a pair of long-established Division II teams, the Griffins lost their Nov. 15 opener to Edinboro (Pa.) University, 79-61, and then were shaded by the host Golden Rams the following night, 74-68.

The West Chester game almost went down to the wire. The Edinboro game didn’t get out of hand until the final minutes.

“With 6:20 to go we were down 62-56,” said CHC coach Jesse Balcer, “then they outscored us 17-5 the rest of the way, and that included a lot of free throws because we had to foul them at the end.”

Last winter, Chestnut Hill finished with a record of 4-12 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and was 6-21 overall.

In addition to a challenging CACC schedule, the Griffins will be facing a lot of tough non-league opponents this season.

“I want to see where we are,” Balcer explained. “Right now we’re going to take our lumps against some of those teams, but in the future if we’re able to make the [NCAA] tournament, there won’t be anyone they can throw at us that will be much better than the teams we’ve already seen.”

The Griffins’ tri-captains this season are seniors David Goode (a 6-6 forward) and Tom Magnum (a 6-2 guard), and junior Larz Jeter (a 6-4 forward). Goode and Magnum are graduates of Cardinal Dougherty High School, as is 5-10 junior guard Bryant Lennon.

The third senior on the squad is 6-5 forward Antonio Grubsic, and the third junior is a Chestnut Hill Academy alum, speedy 5-10 point guard Julian McFadden.

The CHC sophomores also come in threes, and all of them were already impact players last year as freshmen. Brandon Williams, a 6-1 guard, hails from Abington Friends School, which is also Coach Balcer’s alma mater. The other sophomores, each standing 6-4, are forward Trenton Davidheiser and shooting guard Kevin Whaley.

Goode was missing at the post last winter because he red-shirted the 2007-2008 season. His return this year coincides with the arrival of a pair of 6-6 freshmen, forward Dan Comas, who comes from Archbishop Wood in Warminster, and center Jamie Bercier, from Stroudsburg, PA.

Another rookie, Marcus Hardy of Hanover, Pa., can play guard or forward at 6-4, and fellow newcomer Ryan Cook is a 6-2 guard from Laurel, Md. The incoming class also includes a 6-4 freshman guard who will be eligible to play later in the season.

With newfound size on the roster, Coach Balcer said, “I now have a nice four-man rotation if I want to go with two ‘bigs’ all the time. There will also be times when I might just have one of them in there anyway, because we’re so used to playing a small-and-fast style.

“The big guys can now play hard all the time without worrying about fouls as much as we had to before,” he continued. “We also can throw the ball inside now to kind of open it up for our shooters, which we hadn’t been able to do. We had to drive to the hoop or shoot jumpers all the time.”

The tournament on opening weekend showed the CHC mentor several areas in which the squad needs to improve: limiting turnovers, hitting free throws, establishing a stronger rebounding presence, and getting in position to draw charges.

“That’s stuff that I preach all the time,” Balcer said. “Some of that comes with getting more playing time together. By the end of last season, we had great chemistry, but that doesn’t really roll over to this year because we’ve got some new guys mixing in with the guys who are back. We’ve got to redefine roles a little bit.”

Balcer also wants to sell his players on the idea of building a Division II program for the long haul, which will require some patience on their part.

“They go really hard every day and they have a good attitude,” he said. “The only thing that worries me is that we’re playing a tough schedule and having the losses pile up might make them doubt what they’re doing. It’s my job to make sure we stay positive.”