The Nordonia Knights varsity boys basketball team has had a fantastic season. According to the state of Ohio, the Knights had one of the toughest schedules in the state. The boys had come on the court with determination and selflessness; with the hunger to win. With the playoffs less than a week away, varsity head coach Dominique Sanders is full of excitement and anticipation to see what his boys can do. Over the weekend, Coach Sanders went on the record with Nordonia Hills News to talk about the Knights regular season and what he hopes to see during the playoffs.
Coach Dominique Sanders has been coaching for 10 years. In that 10 years, he’s been coaching varsity basketball for 7 years total. 4 of those years have been with Nordonia, as before that he was with the Knights’ crosstown rival Twinsburg Tigers.
“Our guys did a great job; they had a very successful season at 17-5,” Sanders said, “our guys had a successful season, they are unselfish and just wanted to win.” It certainly did show that they’ve wanted to win since the beginning. The Knights had not only great defense, but their offense didn’t slack either. The boys were constantly trying to score and prevent the opposing team from scoring with new strategies and critical thinking.
There has been a lot that has changed since last year; whether that was coming off of the COVID school year or more determination during this season. The Knights showed a significant increase in wins since last year, with an overall record of 11-13 and a rank of 236 in the state of Ohio. In this past season, the boys have sprouted to an overall record of 17-5 and a rank of 28 in the state of Ohio. That is a huge jump from the 2021-2022 season, so what changed from this season from the last?
“Just commitment, the offseason was full of commitment,” Sanders told NHN, “the guys have just gotten stronger with more time in the weightroom, and time together. Just time together and commitment to the program.” Coach Sanders said. This is called group cohesion; where how teammates get along and get together during sports can have a great influence in how the team plays together. Within the Knights varsity basketball team, they definitely have shown signs of group cohesion.
Not only did the boys bring in more commitment and group cohesion, but Dominique Sanders also had coaching differences since last season. “We tried to let them be more free this year, a more upstyle offense. We wanted them to be able to play more freely.” This will show well in their futures; as 70% of all high school student-athletes quit playing their sport because of their high school coach, Coach Sanders allowing the students to play more freely would help out the boys during their college years because of his influence on the boys.
With the playoffs starting soon, optimism is influential in this team. Of course, when you’re coaching a team you hope for them to win. “You not only hope to win; but you expect to win,” said Sanders, “with the preparation that we did, we just hope that our guys are able to execute and have success.” As a community, we certainly hope the same. But, the way that the Knights have handled some of the hardest teams in the state of Ohio; we can certainly see some success coming.
Of course the boys would like to win a Suburban League championship, who wouldn’t? But, Coach Dominique Sanders doesn’t just want to win the Suburban League; he wants something more. “I hope to accomplish a sustainable basketball program here at Nordonia High School,” said Sanders, “When I was in high school back in 2008 in Twinsburg, Nordonia had a really good football and basketball program. So, I want to sustain excellence in the way that we are competing.” Sanders is doing an amazing job of making that possible, and we can’t see what more he will accomplish as the head coach of varsity boys basketball.
There were quite a few key players that got the boys where they wanted to be. They’re often showing determination on and off the court; whether that’s in the weight room or in the classroom. “Landon Naylor, Liam Gopalakrishna, Mitchell Woechecki, Isaac Cherry, Gabe Ingram, Khari Alamin, Joey Palinkas, and Trevor Turnball have been quite a few of our key players during this season,” Sanders told NHN. These players have been amazing to see during Nordonia’s regular season and we can’t wait to see what they will do during the playoffs.
Although there is a lot of excitement for the Knights during this season and to start the playoffs, there will also be a few bittersweet goodbyes to Nordonia’s basketball seniors in May. As they’ll leave Knights basketball, there are a few of them that will continue their academic and athletic career at the collegiate level. “We have about 4-5 student athletes that are going to play at the collegiate level, but they haven’t committed yet,” Sanders told NHN, “I want them to continue to be themselves, they are great young men that I believe have such a bright future. They sustained merit or honor roll grade point averages throughout their four years at Nordonia.”
The Knights will take on Canton McKinley in a rematch of last year’s sectional championship tomorrow, February 25th at 7:00 pm at Nordonia High School in Macedonia, OH.
Special thank you to head coach Dominique Sanders for meeting with me, Emily Zwegat, during this hectic time of getting ready for the playoffs. NordoniaHills.News wishes the boys basketball team good luck during their playoff run.
