By Chris Parker
After winning 20 games combined in the six seasons from 2012-13 through 2017-18, Buffalo boys basketball has won 28 games combined in just the past two seasons. Last year, Buffalo finished with a 13-13 overall record.
Buffalo will look to get back above .500 with two all-conference seniors leading the way.
Senior Jamen Smith is one of the area’s top athletes. He has led the Buffalo football team as its quarterback. He will fulfill a similar role on the basketball court. Last year, Smith led the Bison in points (18.1), rebounds (6.4), assists (4.9), and blocks (1.3) per game while finishing second in steals at 2.7 per game.
“Jamen’s natural athleticism gives him an advantage over most players, but it is his intelligence and hard work that really elevate him to being such a great player. He does such a tremendous job of attacking weaknesses of the other team, and he always creates situations in which he can take advantage of teammates or the other team. Very few players can really do everything on both sides of the ball, but because his basketball intelligence is so high, we never have to worry about putting him in situations he cannot figure out,” Buffalo head coach Kyle Gawlowski said. “This is another season in which we will ask Jamen to do a little bit of everything on both sides of the ball. However, Jamen is a born leader and handles that pressure with maturity. He is an extremely authentic person as well, so leadership isn’t something he has to force. He naturally does a great job of knowing when to encourage or address issues with our underclassmen.”
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Smith has scored 1,133 career points in 76 varsity games.
Fellow senior Bode Abraham returns after earning second-team all-conference last year. Abraham has shown steady improvement throughout his high school career going from 1.7 ppg as a freshman to 8.4 ppg as a sophomore to 14.2 ppg last year where he was the team’s second-leading scorer.
“The greatest amount of growth we have seen from Bode has come off the court in developing his maturity and working in the weight room. From his freshman season, we knew Bode was going to be the hardest working player on the court. He just had to develop emotionally, mentally, and physically to match his extraordinary work ethic. All of that really came together in his junior season in which he built himself into being our best perimeter defender and an emotional leader for our entire team,” Gawlowski said. “Bode was our most consistent outside threat on offense and our best perimeter defender last year. This year, we expect him to be an even bigger part of the offense. Thanks to another year of great work in the weight room, we will see him much more successfully taking the ball to the rim and finishing over bigger defenders. This will make him a more versatile threat and will help him open up more passing lanes to expand his role as a passer too.”
Dominic Miller is a third senior that Buffalo will lean on. He scored 6.7 points per game last year.
“Dominic Miller is a senior guard that we expect to play a much bigger role as well. He showed flashes of how he could use his athleticism on both ends of the floor last year, but this summer he looked like a completely different player. Both his outside shooting and ability to drive have shown a great amount of growth mainly due to his maturity and confidence expanding,” Gawlowski said.
This trio will be key to Buffalo’s success.
“Our seniors as a group have done an amazing job of getting the entire team to participate in everything we have been able to do in the off-season, and they have created a great competitive atmosphere. All three of them will be much better players on the court, and because of them, the entire team has increased across the board,” Gawlowski said.
Both junior guard Cameron Portis and sophomore post Joseph Horinek have shown marked improvement in the off-season.
“Cameron really came on strong at the end of last season, and was actually our leading scorer and rebounder in a game against El Dorado Springs to end the season. He will be much stronger and much more confident on both sides of the floor,” Gawlowski said. “Joseph Horinek is a 6’4 post player with great soft hands and a great instinct for protecting the rim. He dominated several JV games last year. Although he didn’t see much varsity action, his role will greatly expand with how much stronger and confident he has gotten.”
Junior guards Pierce Obernuefemann and Colby Smith will be two new players to watch. Sophomore Brett Schwanke was one of Buffalo’s top seven players by the end of last year, and his role will expand this year. Jaren Smith returns to the court for his junior season after sitting out last season.
“This year will be the deepest team I have coached in my five years at Buffalo. This will finally allow me to play the style I have really wanted to play. We will look to really push the tempo on offense and increase the pressure on defense. Now that we have a plethora of guards to throw at other teams, we can work in a lot more ball pressure and trapping that we haven’t had the personnel in the past to really commit to. This high tempo grind is the style the player’s really love to play as well, so it will be fun to turn them loose on opposing teams,” Gawlowski said.
Buffalo will open the season Nov. 30-Dec. 5 at the Marionville Invitational.
“We expect to have a very successful season. We have a great group of experienced upperclassmen returning, some exciting new transfers, and underclassmen that are pushing hard to get on the court. We are coming off back to back conference championships, but every team in our conference should improve from last season. We had some heated battles with these teams, and all of them are pushing to knock us off,” Gawlowski said. “This is an incredibly fun group of players to coach. They all really enjoy being around one another, and our practices strike that perfect balance of fun and intense. I can’t emphasize enough how much I am looking forward to starting the season and getting to see them improve and grow as people this year. I really am lucky to be able to coach such a great group in such a great team culture they have created.”
