SARATOGA SPRINGS — A black stripe on the right shoulder of their jerseys, “Coach Beson” painted on the team’s home bench and the acronym “EED” voiced in unison after every team huddle are reminders of the man who left a lasting legacy on the Saratoga Central Catholic Saints basketball program.
The principals demonstrated by the late Mike Beson, who passed away from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis October 6, have not been forgotten. Heading into their second Western Athletic Conference game tonight at Northville, Spa Catholic and head coach Ken Mantia are 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the league.
“Coach Beson was all about preparation, hard work and enthusiasm,” Mantia said. “He’s the most enthusiastic coach I’ve ever seen in 25 years. With him there are no days off. There are not even minutes off. There’s no time off at all and this team is playing the way he taught this group last year when they were a younger group of kids, and you’re seeing it out of them. When we break out of the huddle we say, ‘EED,’ which is ‘Enjoy Each Day.’ That’s kind of what he passed on to us. We bring it every night. We have no idea what the record will be, but the effort will be there every practice and every game this year.”
With two convincing non-league wins over the Wasaren’s Schuylerville and the Foothills’ South Glens Falls to clinch the inaugural Mike Beson Memorial Tournament last week, the Saints have shown depth, unselfish play, the ability to pressure teams in the full court and a 2-3 zone that looks to get stops and push out in transition.
The Saints return six of the team’s top eight scorers from last year. Senior point guard Brian Hall averaged 17 points a game in the Coach Beson Memorial Tournament and returns this season with fellow teammate and senior Luke Spicer bringing the ball up.
“[Brian’s] strengths are he plays great defense and he sees the floor,” Mantia said. “He’s a very good team player. A complete guard, but he also has the ability to score 15 any night. When he’s aggressive he can light it up, but we know every game we’re getting unselfish play and great defense from Brian.”
The 6-foot-3 Michael Naughton, junior shooting guard Ryan Czarnecki and senior Keegan Murphy, who has shown an acute ability to see the floor, lead an experienced team that is very familiar with one another and has also introduced a young key addition in sophomore transfer Evan Pescetti.
“The thing I like about Evan is he loves rebounding,” Mantia said. “It’s nice to have a big guy who wants to go inside and battle with people and get on the boards. He’s very athletic and very effective in our presses—back of our scramble press or on the ball in our diamond press. It gives us great dimension. He’s only a sophomore, so there are things he needs to continue to work on and he has been working very hard with coach [Kyle] Stevens in practice to develop some moves, but he’s been a great addition.”
