(Feb. 27) – The Buffalo boys basketball squad wrapped up their season on a losing streak, finishing with a home matchup against the Wildcats of Greenwood with a 46-54 loss. By the end of the season, they held an overall record of 3-19 with a 0-13 Tri-Valley League record.
Starting January, Newport competed against Greenwood in a game on Jan. 5 that resulted in a loss, 32-46. Senior center Zachary Bellis led the team that night with thirteen points, six two-point field goals and a foul shot. With the eight rebounds he had that night, he put up four more points in the paint than the Wildcats did overall. Newport was 12-34 on field goals whereas Greenwood was 15-48, which is indicative of their efforts to take more shots.
On the road again, Newport went south to play against the York Country Day School Greyhounds on Jan. 8. Freshman guard Landon Zaring took the reins for scoring this night, shooting four two-point field goals, one three-point field goal, and a foul shot for eleven points overall. Close behind him for points in this game were senior guard Ruben Moreno with ten points and senior forward Evan Still with seven points Additionally, Moreno had seven of the team’s sixteen steals of the matchup. The contest ended with a loss for the Buffalos, 43-54.
Back on the home court, Newport hosted the Blackhawks of Susquenita on Jan. 9. The Buffalos won against Susquenita at the J.T. Kuhn Memorial Tip-Off Tournament but lost to the Blackhawks at the Perry County Tournament, making their record 1-1 by this point. Unfortunately, Susquenita unleashed more pressure resulting in a 41-56 loss for Newport. Nonetheless, the team had twenty steals in this game.
At Upper Dauphin Area on Friday, Jan. 12, the Buffalos fell to the Trojans 46-54. Freshman guard Tai Caudle put thirteen points up to lead scorers, Moreno following with eight points and senior forward Logan Burns trailing with seven points. Moreno and Burns were also successful on defense, both with a block to their name on the stat sheet.
Newport played Halifax Area on Jan. 15 at home. The crushing loss of 43-64 handed the Buffalos their third at-home loss in January. On a more positive note, the entire varsity roster, including freshmen such as forward Jameson Cummins and forward Mason Bitting, were able to get minutes on the court. Before this game, Halifax Area’s team usually brought their winning scores into the low seventies and eighties, proving that Newport’s defense put up a relatively good stand in this matchup.
Going up the Juniata River once again and for the last time this season, Newport faced the Juniata Indians in Mifflintown on Jan. 18. Junior guard Tyler Gardner excelled with thirteen points, followed by Moreno with six points and Caudle with five points. Despite the 38-51 loss, Newport had fewer turnovers than, more assists than, and tied the Indians in offensive rebounds.
On Jan. 20, Newport hosted the first Saturday game of the season against the Harrisburg Christian Knights. The loss of 37-41 was the Buffalos’ fourth out-of-league loss of the 2023-2024 season. The team tied the Knights with personal fouls and steals. Newport’s strong suit this game was two-point field goals, having made thirteen of thirty-nine. Moreno had fourteen points himself, senior forward Ryder Wands and Zaring followed with six points, and Burns trailed with five points.
Back at home after the weekend, Newport took on the East Juniata Tigers once again on Jan. 22. For a second time in the second half of the season, the entire varsity roster touched the court. Newport earned thirty rebounds overall. Junior center “Big Country” Evan Fleisher had nine, Zaring contributed eight, and Caudle, Gardner, and Bellis tied with two. Gardner led with eleven points. The contest ended in a loss for the Buffalos, 32-57.
Trudging up to Herndon to face the Line Mountain Eagles, Newport was met with a 45-49 loss on Jan. 25. The Buffalos were victorious in their own ways, such as having a higher three-point field goals made percentage when put into comparison to the Eagles, more assists, and having a better make percentage at the foul line. Moreno scored fourteen points with Gardner behind him by one point.
The last game on the road was at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy in Boalsburg against the Wolfpack on Jan. 29. Even in the face of a loss with the closest score all season, 49-51, the team had outstanding performances in the game and was motivated to perform even better in the next game vs. Greenwood. Here, Gardner was able to put up eighteen points, Zaring had eight rebounds, Moreno, Gardner, and Burns were all tied with three assists, and Moreno had three steals. “Towards the end of the season, I think I finally found my rhythm,” Gardner said.
Playing on the home wood Thursday, Feb. 1, the Buffalos battled through their last game of the season against Greenwood. With the support of the Stampede all dressed in gold in support of childhood cancer awareness, Moreno dropped a whopping 27 points, being the only player to break double-digits on the sheet. Making eleven two-point field goals and five foul shots, the senior star certainly closed out his season with a prestigious performance. He, Gardner, and Bellis tied with four rebounds, and he also had five steals.
Each year, players have the opportunity to receive postseason awards. From the Tri-Valley Athletic Association (TVAA), Moreno was selected as an All-Star Honorable Mention. “I was honestly shocked…” Moreno had to say. Notably, Zaring led the Tri-Valley league as a freshman in rebounds, totaling 121. Notably, Zaring is the only freshman on the TVAA statistic sheet.
Coaches Zaring, Page, and Walter selected team awards held at the banquet on Feb. 12. The recipients are as follows: Dedication Award, Christian Walter; Buffalo Award, Jameson Cummins; GPA Award, Zachary Bellis; Defensive Player of the Year, Landon Zaring; Most Improved Player, Braden Barrick; and Team MVP, Ruben Moreno. The last award, the Richard “Dick” McCance Award, created by Coach Zaring after the passing of former basketball coach and mentor, Mr. McCance, was given to Logan Burns.
(Jan. 9) – To resume the season in December, Newport hosted the Millersburg Area Indians on Tuesday, Dec. 19. Again, senior Ruben Moreno put the most points on the stat sheet with eight; this time, however, senior Zachary Bellis trailed behind him with six points as compared to typical leader freshman Landon Zaring who only scored three. The team had several three-point shots but only made one out of fourteen. The loss of 31-38 was tough for the team. The Buffaloes were down only 21-22 at half, took the lead 28-27 at the end of the third quarter, then let the Indians slip by to their victory.
The next team to be welcomed to Newport was the Midd-West Mustangs on Friday, Dec. 22. Zaring led in scoring with eleven points. Behind him was Moreno with eight points and Gardner with six points. The team scored lower than they did at Midd-West last winter with only thirty-eight points on the scoreboard compared to last year’s forty-three. Nonetheless, the Buffaloes still proved their defensive prowess with twenty-three defensive rebounds and three blocks.
The Buffalo feature in the PeCo Tournament was not what the team was looking for. The team faced a harsh loss of 35-52 to the Greenwood Wildcats on Friday, Dec. 29. Newport still showed their defensive skill with two more blocks than the Wildcats, four total: one from senior Braden Barrick, one from Zaring, and the other two from senior Logan Burns. Newport also shot more two-point field goals than Greenwood did, and Newport hit 45.5% of those shots while the Blue and Gold made only 39.2% of their attempts.
On the second night of the tournament, Dec. 30, the Buffaloes came back to try to secure a win over the Susquenita Blackhawks. Even with less personal fouls than the Blackhawks, more blocks, and more overall rebounds, the Buffaloes still fell 31-63. Freshman Tai Caudle found this game to be his first shining moment in the season. Caudle had ten points, hitting both his foul shots and making four two-point field goals. “… I do think I am capable of having a performance like that in every game and my team should be able to beat a team like Susquenita,” Caudle commented after the game.
After the weekend tournament, Newport returned home on Tuesday, Jan. 2 for a game against the Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy Wolfpack. The Buffalos’ hottest moment in this game was scoring seventeen points in the third quarter while only allowing eight points to be scored on them. The fourth quarter began with a Wolfpack lead of 37-32. Newport came out strong with a lot of points in-the-paint, scoring twenty-four of their total forty-three there. The final score ended with a close 43-47 loss for the Buffaloes.
Relieving the stress of the previous losing streak, Newport brought the Juniata Christian School Lions to the gym on Thursday, Jan. 4 and scored sixty-one points against the Lions, who only scored fifteen on the Buffaloes. In this varsity-only game, the team features some of their non-starters. Freshman Mason Bitting also got his first varsity points. During the six minutes he played, he scored two two-point field goals. Senior Aerich Wetzler put up his first two points of the season after getting an offensive rebound. “I was feeling anxious when I got the ball…I grabbed it and threw it back up,” said Wetzler. By this final game against the Lions, the team is 3-8 overall and 0-4 in the Tri-Valley League.
(Jan. 3) – Newport boys basketball is striving this year to improve on last season’s 7-12 record. The losses of previous starting seniors Joshua Bellis, Teo Garcia-Fernandez, and Shane Lamprey will affect this season’s freshman-dominated team dynamic. However, the returning juniors and seniors are lined up to fill the holes left by these past players.
During the first two weeks of practice, head coach Jeff Zaring happily welcomed back former head coach Justin Hazel to run offensive and defensive plays alongside assistant coaches Ben Page and Keith Walter. “When Coach Hazel decided to resign as [East Juniata’s] head coach, he reached out to me and the guys about volunteering,” Coach Zaring explained.
In the beginning of the season, players volunteering for the spot of captain gave speeches to the rest of the team to earn their vote. Senior Ruben Moreno and senior Ryder Wands were voted to be permanent captains, and by coaches’ discretion and captains’ choice, an “honorary” captain is selected each week.
On Monday, Nov. 27, the Buffaloes traveled to Lancaster County Christian School for a scrimmage to exhibit their skills and to prepare for the first game of the season at the J.T. Kuhn Memorial Tip-Off Tournament at Big Spring. Next, the team hosted Harrisburg Academy for a scrimmage on Wednesday, Nov. 29 to again test where the team’s skills lay.
At Big Spring for the J.T. Kuhn Memorial Tip-Off Tournament on Friday, Dec. 8, the Buffaloes fell to the Bulldogs 33-60. Moreno was able to get past the Bulldog defense and land 10 points. Following behind him in points with four was freshman Landon Zaring. Zaring, with five defensive rebounds this game, proved himself to be a dominant player on the court. “… it’s pretty exciting, but I feel like there’s pressure on me to do well since I’m starting as a freshman,” Zaring said.
In the consolation game against Susquenita on Saturday, Dec. 9, Newport came out with a close 42-37 victory over the Blackhawks in a competitive matchup.
At the end of the third quarter, Newport had the lead with a score of 27-20, but this didn’t stop the Susquenita offense from scoring. A Blackhawk scored a three-point field goal in the fourth quarter to make the game 34-35 in Newport’s favor. Moreno got to shoot for two after Deaven earned a foul taking the score to 36-34 for the Buffaloes. Susquenita was unable to regain the lead from there.
On Tuesday, Dec. 12, Newport hosted their season opener against the Juniata Indians. Both teams tied for points scored in the paint. Moreno, Zaring, and senior Zachary Bellis all tied in free-throw shot percentage of 50% for this game, each having two and only making one. However, Newport lost in this match, 28-37.
The team’s next match-up was an away game hosted by the East Juniata Tigers on Friday, Dec. 15. This was another game with a close score, ending in a loss for the Buffaloes 33-37 with a Tiger sweep in the fourth quarter. Notably, the Buffaloes were 2-5 for three’s while the Tigers were 1-17. Bellis was a key player in this game, scoring ten points, the majority from rebounds.
To begin the first of two nights of back-to-back games, Covenant Christian Academy brought the Buffaloes to their gym on Monday, Dec. 18th. Just as Newport did last year, they surpassed the 50-point mark, with a win of 51-28 this year after their 67-34 win over the Falcons on Feb. 7, 2023.
This puts the Buffaloes at 0-2 in the Tri-Valley League but 2-3 overall to begin the season.
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