Unbeaten Springfield needs four more wins for perfect regular season

February 13, 2015 at 12:10a.m.

NEW MIDDLETOWN

They are four games from perfection.

But don’t tell the Springfield High School boys basketball team that. If you do, expect the players to simultaneously knock on the gymnasium’s hardwood floor.

With four regular-season games left, the Tigers aren’t about to let even a silly superstition get in the way.

“You could say that,” said guard Hunter Snyder, who also provides comedic relief to a team that doesn’t seem like it’s on the verge of an undefeated regular season.

“We talk about it, some of us are just very superstitious,” admitted senior Mark Schuler. “Whether that helps or not, we’re all just kinda like, ‘If you say something, you gotta knock on wood.’”

One thing you can’t knock is the success of Springfield’s rather large senior class. The seven players graduating in the spring are 53-2 versus Inter Tri-County League Tier One opponents and just wrapped up their fourth consecutive league title. The losses came against South Range in 2012 and Lisbon in 2014.

This year, they’re in pursuit of not just an undefeated league record, but a perfect season from start to finish. They’re 18 games through and, so far, not a single blemish.

“It’s a good thing and a bad thing, at times, when you’re undefeated,” Tigers head coach Eric Fender said. “It’s a good thing because it looks good and it feels good, but it’s bad because it puts a bull’s-eye on your back and you know you’re going to get everybody’s best shot every night.”

The four remaining opponents include league opponent Crestview (tonight) as well as McDonald, Girard and Salem. Then it’s on to the Division III tournament where they’ll surely be tested. But this group of Tigers — the correct term for which is a “streak” — feels like they have something different. They feel like they have a chance to be special.

The core group of seniors has been playing together since kindergarten. Fender has been using an eight-man rotation for most of this season. Six are seniors.

“It’s the friendship that they’ve had with each other,” Fender said. “They love playing the game, they’re so unselfish and could [not] care less about who does what.

“The only thing that matters to them is are we getting the W and so far we’ve been lucky enough to get 18 Ws.”

Let’s start with Snyder, the point guard. He was nominated by Schuler as the biggest clown on the team. That was only backed up by just about everyone else.

“Hunter’s crazy,” Brandon Chamberlain said. “He has so much energy. I’ve never seen a kid, his size, with so much energy.

“He’s just crazy.”

Snyder (5-foot-8) averages 6.5 points, five assists and three steals per game. But perhaps his highest average is in getting laughs before a big game.

“Once it comes game time, I try to keep the guys loose and try not to make things too serious,” Snyder said. “Once it gets too serious, it can get in our heads. Better to go into the game with a loose attitude.”

One reason his coach doesn’t have a problem with Snyder’s light-hearted approach is because Fender sees the effect it has on the rest of his team. They mirror the personality of their leader.

“You always want the kids to play loose, to practice loose,” Fender said. “You can’t let them get too far out there, but it’s good to have a guy who likes to have fun, comes in and jokes around.

“But the one thing we know with Hunter, as it’s been with all the seniors all year, when it’s time to work, they’re ready to work.”

Then there’s Schuler. He’s the tallest guy on the team, standing 6-foot-5. Last week, he signed with Youngstown State to play football, so he knows his competitive basketball days are numbered. That’s why he’s enjoying every aspect of this journey.

“Besides winning, being able to spend your senior year with your best friends has been really great,” said Schuler, who’s averaging 10 points and nine rebounds this season.

“We’re all very, very close and being able to play together and increase that bond is something special.”

Schuler was able to sample this type of success his freshman year, when he dressed for Springfield’s 2011-12 team that went 21-3 before the Tigers were ousted in the Division III regional semifinals.

“Just being in that atmosphere was amazing,” he said.

As for Chamberlain, defenses best not lose track of him because he’ll make you pay from behind the arc. He makes just two per game, but he’s averaging 51 percent from 3-point range.

“We all know our factors on the team,” Snyder said. “Each guy knows what his role is on the team and he leads that part of the team.”

On a team full of seniors, it’s hard to imagine any of them taking a back seat to an underclassman. Yet that’s exactly what they’ve done — and for good reason.

Graham Mincher started a few games as a sophomore last season, but has taken on a larger role this year. He’s the Tigers’ leading scorer, averaging 20 points, and is nearly automatic from the free-throw line, shooting 85 percent.

The seniors are more than willing to put the ball in his hands in crunch time, too.

“You see Graham Mincher in the paper all the time, because he’s always our highest scorer,” Snyder said. “But there’s a lot of factors that lead into that that people don’t see.”

And that doesn’t bother them one bit.

“I don’t think it’s a single guy,” Snyder added. “I think we all pick it up when it matters the most. We get along so well, that there’s not an individual that stands out.”

Which is exactly the makeup Fender wanted in his team. No stars, just players.

Now, they’re on the verge of no losses, just wins.