RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Jersey Shore's Landon Lathan (15) works his way around Danville's Mason Kingery (2) and Benjamin Koser (21) during a District 4 Class AAAA boys quarterfinal basketball game at Danville on Friday, Jan. 21, 2025.

Heading into the 2024-25 season, expectations surrounding Jersey Shore boys basketball weren’t exactly high. Not only was the team coming off back-to-back seasons where it picked up just two wins, but it was also dealing with two factors further hinting at a rebuild, the departure of leading scorer Spencer Brion and the shake-up of its coaching staff.

At that time, first-year coach Jon Boob was cautiously optimistic when discussing his goals for his debut season at the helm. As an assistant, he had witnessed the team’s struggles firsthand and recognized the challenges that awaited it.

“Our leading scorer graduated on a team that has already been struggling, so it’s a transition,” said Boob in early December. “We are a team just trying to compete again. Our few returning players do not know what it takes to win yet but we are making good strides, and I’m excited to see how it translates into the season.”

In most cases, turnarounds don’t happen overnight. Sure, a program under new leadership might show flashes and generate buzz prior to its awaited take-off. Those bright spots, though few and far between, may culminate in a list of positives that give fans hope heading into the following season.

But when a team’s starting from the bottom, it’s rare for those flashes to mesh together into a truly successful campaign – one that would match up well against some of the better programs in your respective division, conference or district.

While optimism often clouds realism when a coaching staff is altered, nobody could’ve predicted the strides the Bulldogs would make throughout this season. Not Boob, not his players, not the fans. Nobody.

Cut to the end of February, Shore had just finished one win short of the most wins its secured in a decade – a small leap short of its run to the District 4 Class AAA title in 2015 and a large one over anything its accomplished through the previous three seasons.

Throughout the season, the Bulldogs experienced a six-game win streak to start 8-2, ended a five-game losing streak against Selinsgrove with a come-from-behind victory and swept Shikellamy, a team that had previously beaten them six times in a row.

They gave impressive efforts in losses to Troy and Warrior Run, who are set to face off in the District 4 Class AAA championship on Saturday. And by the end of the regular season, they had done enough to clinch their first playoff berth since 2021, entering the District 4 Class AAAA bracket as the six seed.

When it seemed like its season would end in blowout fashion against the two-time defending district champs in Danville, facing a 28-7 deficit early in the second quarter, the team placed all hands on deck and rallied, scraping together a 17-0 run headlined by strong defensive efforts across the board and five separate scorers.

Even in its eventual 59-53 defeat, Jersey Shore put its best foot forward when the lights shined brightest, proving how far it’s come and sending itself into next season with a vast amount of confidence.

“I can’t be upset by that at all. Going from two wins last year, two wins the year before that, to winning 13 games and then competing with a two-time defending champ in Danville, I mean, it’s just remarkable,” said Boob following the game.

“I’ve been coaching basketball for a long time, and this is the best group of guys. They listen, just play hard and do anything you ask to their full capability. They’ll make a ton of mistakes, but it’s never because they’re not trying their hardest.”

The team was top-heavy in the beginning, with senior Ben Dalton carrying the team early following his impressive transition from wing to post. But junior point guard Landon Lathan quickly established himself as a do-it-all second option and steadily, the rest of the surrounding cast began to follow suit.

The end result was ten Bulldogs combining for 50 points through Jersey Shore’s final three quarters of the season. Dalton still led the way with 19 but while the team couldn’t have experienced its early success without him, that effort would’ve proved meaningless without everyone stepping up with the season on the line.

“I knew my role in the program was to get those guys going in the right direction because this is my last year,” said Dalton. “So, for them to step up continuously throughout the year and provide offense outside of me more and more, I’m just super proud of them and it shows they have good things coming forward.”

“We started to get more guys involved in the offense and it made things a little bit easier, especially for Ben,” emphasized Boob. “Now, we’re seven, eight-deep and I can trust them with the ball in their hands. Even with Ben graduating, they can see the light at the end of the tunnel like, ‘We can do it.'”

Though the departure of Dalton, coupled with reserve standouts in Caden Jolin, Jude TenEyck and Zack Kendall, will be tough to adapt to, plenty of standouts will be there to help Jersey Shore continue building upward next season.

Alongside Lathan, juniors – Roman Dittmar, Tucker Hannah, Carson Watkins, sophomores – Jacob Lorson and Khani McCray, and freshman Ty McDermitt all showed they could be impactful in multiple ways throughout the latter portion of the season.

Against Danville, Dittmar was able to take some of the rebounding responsibilities off the back of Dalton, grabbing five boards. Lorson, Hannah and McDermitt have proven capable of scoring in multiple different ways, each possessing an improved shot from behind the arc. And McCray has kicked his defense up a notch, fore fronting a 12-steal outing for the Bulldogs against the Ironmen.

It’s a group that’s expected to make a ton of progress moving forward. Heading into this campaign, much of the cast had just returned to basketball after time off from the sport and some will now get to experience their first full offseason of high school ball.

“I don’t want to jump into the offseason already, but we haven’t had a full offseason with these guys, so I’m hoping that we can have a strong offseason, come back and surprise people again,” said Boob.

When asking Boob and his players what they credit much of their success to, apart from the constant Dalton, they’d give you a vast array of different answers. For Boob, it’s how well this group has bought in and the hard work they’ve brought to the table. For the players, Boob at the helm has been the difference.

“With a new coach, he did a great job. I love Jon,” said McCray on Boob. “He’s probably one of my favorite coaches ever.”

“I’m glad to have a coach like that,” emphasized McDermitt.

It’s a dynamic that’s begun paving the program’s path out of a grueling era of Jersey Shore basketball, one built on hard work, trust and belief on both ends. The question is, how far can the Bulldogs climb from here?

Henry Huber is the sports editor at The Express. He can be reached at hhuber@lockhaven.com.