City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The Conestoga boys basketball team was a tier below the top dogs in the Central League last season.

The Pioneers finished third behind Lower Merion and Radnor. They then had their Central League playoff run end against the league runner-up Raptors before the champion Aces knocked them off in districts — both close games reminders of where 'Stoga stood in the league pecking order.

Conestoga is ready to back its jump to the top in 2024-25. With a strong core back, the Pioneers feel they have as good a chance as anyone in what appears to be a wide open Central League to hoist a title at the end of the season.

“Getting a little taste of it early on makes you want to strive for it,” junior Cory Hogan said. “Our high school hasn’t had a league championship since 2008. We’ve got coaches on the coaching staff who won it last time. We really want to get the next banner, and we definitely have the talent and the team to do it.”

Conestoga finished 16-11 last season and placed third in the Central League at 11-5 behind Lower Merion and Radnor. A loss to Bensalem in their first District 1-6A playback game ended the Pioneers’ season.

Junior 5-11 guard Rowan Miller was a first team All-Central League selection last season after starting his high school career at Malvern Prep. Hogan, a 6-4 wing/forward, and senior 6-1 guard Ben Robinson are two more all-league selections back. Senior 6-5 wing/forward Sam Gibbs started games throughout last year as well, giving the Pioneers a good core to build off last season’s success.

“Something we really haven’t had much in the past is guys play for two or three years, so it’s really starting to click, and I notice that in the unselfishness,” said third-year head coach Sean Forcine, a Pioneers alum who’s been with the program for 19 years. “They’re really trusting each other, which makes us a whole lot better.”

Junior Shane O’Brien and sophomore Sunny Tummala are two Pioneers who look ready to step up alongside that core group. The Pioneers don’t have a lot of multi-sport athletes, so the unit has logged plenty of minutes playing together.

Miller added a dynamic element at the guard spot last year, but Conestoga got production from all over the floor. The Pioneers are confident they have enough players ready to step up to make that balance a strength this season.

“I think our group this year, we have five guys on the court who can all shoot the ball from the 3-point line,” O’Brien said. “We all can shoot. We all move it and we’re all not selfish and we all make the extra pass, so I’m really excited to see how we play throughout the year.”

Without a true big man, the Pioneers are well-rounded on the other side of the ball as well.

“I’d say defensively we’re one of the most versatile teams,” Hogan said. “We switch everything. We trust everybody guarding every position. There’s not like a mismatch on any team that can get on us because we all trust each other defensively.”

Of course playing somewhat small has its downside too.

With a pair of sophomores playing key roles in the rotation last season, Forcine said his team got “out-physicaled” at times. The Lower Merion and Radnor teams that finished ahead of the Pioneers were both senior heavy.

Along with getting another year older, the Pioneers have been in the weight room this offseason attempting to improve on that weakeness and turn it into a strength. They are committed to winning the rebounding battle during their 2024-25 campaign.

“Cory was a starting center as a sophomore, didn’t have much muscle on his body. Sam’s using the weight room for the first time and it’s been all of them,” Forcine said. “We gang rebound now, where in the past we counted on one or two guys to rebound and if they didn’t do it we were in trouble. Now, we’re getting all five on the glass. … If we can control the boards, which we’ve been doing this offseason, we can make a nice run this year.”

Conestoga’s opening round district win last season was the program’s first since 2019. The group is hoping to use that experience to propel them further this winter.

Forcine was an assistant for 16 years before taking over as head coach prior to the start of the 2022-23 campaign, so he was around for the Pioneers’ 2008 championship team. He isn’t setting expectations for this group — happy to see them improve on a daily basis — but his players aren’t shy about the standard they are shooting for this year.

“We’re hungry and we haven’t won it in a while, and last year going to the playoffs we had a lot of seniors,” Miller said. “With them being away and us being on that team and having experience, I feel like we’re really important towards the team and leading them.”