Strength in numbers: Buckeye Trail leans on depth in high-pace attack

OLD WASHINGTON − To say the Buckeye Trail boys' basketball team is "off and running" to an impressive start with their current 11-1 record would be a very accurate description.

The Warriors, under third-year head coach Gregg Strasser, have taken to his new up-tempo game plan, literally running with it this hardwood season.

Trail employs an aggressive full-court, in-your-face defensive attack, along with a push-the-ball-up-the-court offensive mentality.

For these Warriors, it's a simple go-as-hard-as-you-can philosophy that the players have executed to near perfection so far this season.

That mindset has proved to be an effective strategy. Trail comes at opponents in waves throughout the game as Strasser utilizes his entire 13-player roster in order to keep fresh bodies on the floor.

"We play our best defense from 90 feet, we have a bunch of quick, athletic players who excel at getting up and down the court," explained Strasser of the reasoning behind the switch to an attacking high pressure, up-tempo style this season.

"Our players have the mindset of going as hard as they can for short periods of time, and then we sub them out with another kid who does the same thing," Strasser said. "That way we can keep up the intense pressure for the full 32 minutes."

At most substitution breaks the Warriors rotation resembles a line change in hockey, with many times three to four fresh players rotating into the game for Trail.

"You can see it start to wear down the other team, with us continually coming at them hard the entire game," Buckeye Trail senior captain Koen Eagon said. "You can see it on their faces, after the starting five has been hounding them. Then we sub in four, five fresh guys in who do the same. They start to look defeated.

More: New look Buckeye Trail changes style of play this season

"We have a lot of guys playing, but all those guys know what to do when they get in the game," Eagon added. "It helps knowing that everyone gives it their all when they hit the floor. You know that the next guy who comes in and just goes as hard as you did. It keeps us fresh and gives us a big edge I feel at the end of the game."

New strategy requires sacrifice from players

In the offseason, Strasser and his coaching staff of his father Tommy, JV coach Woody Biggs, Terry Parry and Cory McQuain took a look at the roster and devised the new plan to put the surplus of athletic players to use.

Trail features 13 players on the varsity roster with eight seniors, four juniors and one sophomore who Strasser has the utmost confidence.

“I have confidence in each of my guys, all 13 of them bring something to the table,” Strasser said. “Our style of play is to play as hard as you can, come out, catch your breath, then go back in and go just as hard again. We play unselfish and the guys are open to coming out when they need a break, as they know they will rotate right back into the game.”

But in order to put the strategy into motion, it required a buy-in from the players. Switching from a more traditional 6-to-7 player rotation to 13 meant a reduction in playing time for some players, especially the seniors, who are playing in their final season, would generally receive a heavier workload.

"I explained to them at the beginning of the year switching to this style would require a sacrifice by some guys," Strasser said. "Playing that many guys, there are only so many minutes to be had in a game. It requires some guys to sacrifice some minutes of their playing time.

"Because our goal long term is playing for the fourth quarter," Strasser continued. "So, they had to be willing to sacrifice minutes, and everybody needs to check the egos at the door. This is how we are going to be playing and these other guys are going to play."

Strasser explained he got no push back from the players. They bought into the new plan from the jump, due to in large part, to having a common goal of wanting to win games.

"This group just wants to win. I know it may sound cliché. But these guys really do have a team first mentality and winning games is what matters to them," Strasser said. "They are a tight group, with a strong group of seniors leading the way."

Seniors set goal of 'Cutting down Nets'

Seniors Charlie Parry, Gavin Rome, Donovan Geiger and Eagon are captains for the Warriors and helped Strasser implement the transition by being willing to make the sacrifices needed for the good of the team.

Parry leads the Warriors' balanced scoring attack by averaging a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds per outing. He explained the team goal as a simple one — cutting down the nets.

In high school basketball, a tradition of celebrating OHSAA postseason success is the winning team has the opportunity to cut down the nets following sectional and district titles.

"We just want to cut down nets," said Parry, who has recorded a double-double in nine of the Warriors' 12 games. "Making it to the state championship is our goal, no matter what it takes to get that done. Almost every night we have somebody new leading us in scoring. I think that makes it hard to defend us. We play so well together, especially the seniors since we've played together since the third grade. The other guys have just stepped in and contributed right away.

"I love the way we play now, getting up and down the court," Parry continued. "You can really see how we wear teams down with our style. You can usually see them giving up by the end of the third quarter. But we are still fresh and ready to play due to our style."

Trail's balanced scoring attack goes eight deep with Geiger (8.0 points/4.0 rebounds), Rome (6.0 points/3.0 rb/3.0 steals), Eagon (6.0 ppg/4.0 rb/3.0 st/3.0 assists), along with junior Travis Dodd (6.0 ppg/2.0 rb/2.0 asst), senior Brady Hastings (5.0 ppg/5.0 rb), junior Mason McQuain (4.0 ppg/2.0 rb/2.0 asst.), sophomore Kyer Eagon (4.0 ppg/3.0 rb/2.0 asst.) and senior sharpshooter Jett Giesey (6.0 ppg) with shooting 37% for beyond the 3-point line with 18 triples on the year.

Completing the deep Warrior roster are seniors Janson Alloway, Wyatt Tank, along with juniors Blake Wayable, and Jace Hickman.

"They are just a great group to coach, they are hardworking and just have a desire to win," Strasser said. "Even in practice they are so competitive they go hard at each other. Wanting to win even in practice, and knowing at the same time they are making each other better."

KSutton1@gannett.com; X: @KSuttonDJSports; Instagram: kevinsutton_dailyjeffsports

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Warriors find success by using all 13 players in up-tempo strategy