By Rob Centorani

Staff Writer

The Anthony C. Drago Tournament might mean more to Davenport boys basketball coach Lee Fisher than some of the other coaches who’ll take part in the tournament that begins tonight at Oneonta High.

When Fisher, in his 31st season at Davenport, was a young coach, he said he had trouble with his team’s ability to break presses.

"Mr. Drago sat down and went over that and I haven’t changed (the press breaker) my whole career," said Fisher, whose team, which advanced to the Class D state semifinals last season, opens the season at 6:30 p.m. tonight against Unatego in a semifinal. "If it’s run properly, it can work."

Though the Wildcats are the lone Class D team in the four-team varsity boys tournament that also includes Class B schools Oneonta High and Seton Catholic Central, they might contend for the Drago title.

"I saw (Davenport) in the summer and they can certainly score and generate turnovers," OHS coach Jerry Mackey said.

Davenport went 24-1 last season, its lone loss coming to C.G. Finney, 58-43, in a state semifinal in which Brandon Butts scored a team-high 18 points for the Wildcats.

Butts, a junior, fractured is right tibia and fibula during soccer season and will be out for at least the first half of the season.

"It would be like taking Shaq away from the Heat," Fisher said of Butts’ absence.[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Still, the Wildcats return senior starters Dan Toombs, a Daily Star First-Team All-Star last season, Brandon Cuddy, Travis Mole and Joe Ballard.

"We have a good nucleus, but you can’t rest on past laurels," said Fisher, whose team faces a Unatego squad that went 12-7 last season.

Oneonta’s boys, coming off a 9-12 season, also have a lot coming back. They’ll be tested by Southern Tier Athletic Conference rival Seton Catholic Central in the

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other boys semifinal at 8:15 tonight.

Tops among the Yellowjackets’ returners is junior guard Dan O’Brien, who averaged 16.6 points and 6.4 rebounds last season, and was a Daily Star First-Team All-Star.

"He’s really kind of solidified his pull-up game and worked on his range," Mackey said of O’Brien, entering his third year on varsity. "He’s had another year of being bigger and stronger and he’s certainly going to be a big part of what we do, but now we have other pieces to pick up the slack."

Players such as Andrew Tenace, D.J. Basile, Alex VanDeusen, Devlin Vanderhoof and Lance Ratchford have experience from last season.

OHS also has talent up from the junior varsity team, which went 14-4 last season. Most notable of last year’s JV players is 6-foot-6 center Brendan Harder.

"He’s added some strength and maturity," said of Harder, who’ll alternate at center with Vanderhoof.

Mackey said SCC, a perennial Section Four power, should be strong again this season. The game will count as a STAC game.

The boys title game is 8:15 p.m. Friday. The consolation game is 6:30 p.m.

On the girls side, Oneonta High’s girls open against Delhi at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday. Unatego plays Niskayua at 6:30 p.m. in other semifinal Wednesday.

The Yellowjackets, who went 16-7 last season, advanced to the Section Four Class A title game last season, falling to Norwich, 42-30, at the Broome County Arena.

But most of the scoring from last season’s team, including Daily Star First-Team All-Star Kate Jaffie, Marie O’Malley and Bridget Farago graduated.

"We’re a work in progress," OHS coach Bob Zeh said. "There are a lot of new people hanging around. I’ve seen some of them before, but they haven’t been here too long."

Sophomore guard Maddie Harlem, who averaged nine points last season, is the Jackets’ top returner.

Rachel Sasson, Carly Sclafani, Ashley Dunn and Meredith Ridgway should also contribute for the Jackets.

"Size-wise, we might a little bigger than last year, but we’re going to miss the experience," Zeh said.

Delhi went 15-6 last season and returns Meghan Taylor, who scored 23 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in the Bulldogs’ season-ending, 64-54 loss to Elmira Heights last season. Taylor was a second-team Daily Star All-Star last season.

Unatego went 20-4 last season and returns Colleen and MacKensey O’Hara from last season, both Daily Star Second-Team All-Stars.

The girls title game is 8:15 p.m. Saturday and the consolation game is 6:30 p.m.

Admission for the tournament is $2 for adults and $1 for students.

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Rob Centorani can be reached at rcentorani@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 209.