Smith, Zebras adjusting to life without last year’s seniors

NM relying on newcomers to replace 4 graduated seniors

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

High school basketball teams spend their summers figuring out who might replace those players that graduated from the previous season.

That figures to be no small task for the Rochester and North Miami teams that met at the RHS gym Friday night.

Rochester needs to replace leading scorer and rebounder Jonas Kiser, point guard Carson Paulik, starting forward Jack Reffett and top reserves Grant Clark, Conner Dunfee and Ashton Musselman.

Meanwhile, North Miami lost three top seniors to graduation in point guard Kale Deardorff, shooting guard Lake Musall and forward Ryan Meredith as well as top reserve big man Ryan Smith.

And this is all coming just six days after the school’s baseball team played in the semistate against Fort Wayne Blackhawk at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette.

Here is an early look:

Rochester

The most familiar faces for the Zebras included seniors-to-be Brady Coleman and Liam Spence. Mitchell Clark and Alex Chapman are point guards with some varsity experience, and Aiden Wilson is a junior who looks to both drive to the basket and shoot from the outside.

But in the varsity’s 44-37 loss to North Miami, the most impactful of the incoming juniors included Owen Lett, a mobile big man who cut back door for a layup and a 3-point play at the end of the first quarter and then hit a 3-point shot to start the second for six quick points. 

The most advanced sophomore might be Van Kiser, who scored five quick points in the fourth quarter as Rochester cut a 34-23 deficit to 34-28.

With Kiser, promising newcomers Luke Gottschalk and Warner DuBois and Spence, Rochester might have less size but more quickness and length in the frontcourt.

Coach Luke Smith said they have been working in summer practices on opening up the floor and picking up the pace. He wants there to be space for guards like Clark and Chapman to drive “downhill” to the basket.

They often had to play at a slower tempo last year.

“We don’t have the same guys,” Smith said. “So we have to fill a lot of roles, and we won’t fill the exact same looking roles for sure. Our system will probably change quite a bit. … We were big and strong last year. I always talked about our strength is our strength, where this year we’re probably a little smaller and quicker, so how do we devise a plan around that? Those preparations are happening now in the summer. It’s a good chance for us to install something and then go play a game. See what we liked about it, put it on film, break it down and let our guys see it.”

Gottschalk, a sophomore, is a transfer from Legacy Christian Academy. DuBois is a freshman. They are just two players among the next wave, according to Smith.

Rochester then rolled to a pair of wins in the two JV halves, winning 19-5 and 18-2.

“There’s a lot of other freshmen,” Smith said. “Like A.J. Short, they shot the ball well tonight. There’s a Gonzo (Jordan Gonzalez) coming up that is really good on defense. … I’ve got a nephew coming up in Parker Smith. It’s just fun to be around these guys. I can’t tell you if any of them are going to play varsity right now. We’ll see what happens.”

Smith said they have played 10 or 11 games while practicing only four times. Smith said he is already thinking about having just practice for the first week of next June. That would create a greater balance between practices and games.

“We were supposed to be at camp at St. Francis, which was a big hit for us last year at this time,” Smith said. “And they canceled that week. That’s why I brought Peru and Northfield in on Tuesday and North Miami tonight.”

On top of that, the guys have also been participating in strength and conditioning three days a week. Athletic director Cal Stone and football coach Isaac Shaffer play a role in roping in a large number of athletes across multiple sports. As a lay coach, Smith is appreciative.

“My very first communication with the guys is giving them the Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday strength and conditioning schedule,” Smith said. “Those guys do a great job with that, putting that on. And I told them I think it’s more important for them to be at that than at basketball at this point.”

Smith then smiled.

“I don’t know if I fully believe that,” he quipped. “But no, I do. I think a lot of these guys need to work on their physique and their strength and their quickness. There’s a lot of agility stuff going on. What they’re doing, I’m excited about it, and I’m glad we’re offering that, and the athletes are showing up, so that’s good.”

North Miami

North Miami went from 8-15 the year before Chuck Evans arrived as coach in 2024-25 to 15-10 last year.

The 15 wins was their most since 2010, and they also won their first two sectional games since 2011 when they pasted Southern Wells 61-22 and topped Tri-Central 53-43. The season ended with a 78-58 loss to Southwood in the sectional final.

It was part of a banner year for North Miami boys sports. They won sectionals in football, wrestling and baseball and tacked on regional titles in wrestling and baseball.

As for basketball, it’s about creating a new chemistry

“We’ve got some new kids,” Evans said. “We’ve got a new group of kids. So just kinda getting them together and letting them have the opportunity to play with each other and not play with the four seniors that we had.”

Evans said that 6-8 center Laython Norman was out with an injury, but the Warriors were able to prevail in the varsity game anyway.

“Any type of touches is great for these kids,” Evans said. “But the biggest goal for us is to try to get these kids some opportunities to play with each other to springboard next year.”

Evans said the players have been in the weight room participating three days a week.

“Basically, I had these boys for about three days two weeks ago – like a little mini-camp,” Evans said. “And then we’ve played five games, and we’ll play two more at Warsaw. So we’ll get seven games in this summer. It’s a short little stint. It’s like a mini camp with mini games.

“It’s been good for us. The kids like each other, and I like them. We’re just enjoying the summer. It’s a little bit different in the summer. It’s a little bit less stressful for everybody.”

With Norman out, Courtlen Finnegan did much of the finishing around the basket, and he and Caden Clingaman could be the top returning seniors. Hayden Spin is a senior who is new to basketball.

Karston Black is the junior who received the most extensive minutes last year.

Brady Coppler is a junior guard with a strong frame, and two other juniors who could contribute are Aiden Adams and Evan Chumbley.

“Out of our six that we played in our game, three of them have zero varsity experience at all (Coppler, Adams and Spin),” Evans explained. “So all three of them are encouraging, and I’m glad they’re out here. They got a lot to learn still because they’re going to have to play some varsity minutes next year.”