Boys basketball preview 2023: Firelands has been through fire, ready to make run at league title

A five-win sophomore year and a coaching change before last season followed by a 2-8 start taught the seniors on this year's Firelands team how to deal with adversity. Going 6-1 in their final seven Lorain County League games showed the Falcons how to win. Now they are ready to make a run at the school's first conference championship since 2013. "We haven't won conference in 10 years," said forward Nate Draga, one of four seniors in the starting lineup. "We see that banner every day that says 2013. We need to put another banner up." Draga, Jimmy Aunspaw, Chris Radman and Niko Gotsis hope experience and veteran leadership will be among the key ingredients that send the Falcons soaring back to the top of the standings. "There's a lot more leadership both on the floor and coming off the bench this season," Aunspaw said. "Once we started playing more physical last year we turned things around and started winning games. We saw last year what it takes to win and now we're ready to be a conference-championship team." Aunspaw led the Falcons last year in scoring (12.4 points) and rebounding (just under eight a game). "The expectations are high this year, we've been talking about that all summer," coach Colin Myers said. "We feel like we've been in every situation so nothing should surprise us. All of those close games we lost last year, now we expect to be on the other side of those games." After having only one senior on the roster last year, Radman notices a different vibe this year. "It's a good atmosphere to have so many seniors that have been playing together for so long. We're all out here for the same reason, to get better and to win," Radman said. "Having seven seniors means you're out there working with the guys you've been with all through high school. It's good that we can all have one last year together." Radman was third on the Falcons in scoring last year and led the team with 38 3-pointers. "Having this many seniors also pushes the younger kids. It makes everyone battle hard in practice for playing time," Myers said. "Leadership shouldn't be an issue for us this year, we have veteran players who have been there and done that." Finishing the 2022-23 regular season with a 4-1 record in February may not have seemed like a big deal at the time, but for a team that had gone 11-27 with its previous mindset, it created a seismic shift in mentality heading into the offseason. "The way we ended last year gave us so much momentum. We saw that if we play the right way it can get us wins," Gotsis said. "This year we have to do that the whole season, we have to be locked in every game, we can't afford to take any opponents lightly, we have to bring our highest intensity every night." At first glance Aunspaw, Gotsis and Draga look like they could be cogs in a machine. They are all 6-foot-2, all play forward and all had similar stats last season. However, Myers said each of them, as well as Radman, bring something unique to the team. "Jimmy is special. He's really physical, he's kinda undersized for the way he plays. He likes to push people around and battle down low," Myers said. "Niko and Nate have both gotten more aggressive. Niko has worked hard to develop his game and now he's tough to stop on offense. Nate is just an all-around solid player. Chris is one of our best shooters, he really helps us spread the floor. When we need someone to hit a big shot, he steps up to the challenge." Although he was only a freshman playing junior varsity, Draga remembers the success the 2020-21 Firelands team had, finishing second in the LCL and hanging for three quarters with eventual regional finalist Akron Buchtel in the district semifinal. He wants that and more for him and his teammates in their senior year. "That's what we've always wanted to be, a team that can go all out in the conference and maybe win a game or two in the playoffs," Draga said. The Falcons open the season with non-league games against Fairview and Edison before starting league play at Clearview on Dec. 8, and it's safe to say everyone is ready to get the season started. "I think we're going be really good this season. After the first few practices I think our mindset is we can win a conference championship this year," Aunspaw said. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.