College Men’s Basketball Team
By: Matthew Florjancic, Correspondent
BEREA, OHIO—For four years at Midpark High School, Dennis Santiago had the option of pulling the trigger on his deadly jump shot at his leisure. Now, as a freshman at Baldwin-Wallace College, Santiago is playing for veteran men’s basketball coach Steve Bankson, who likes his first-year players to become accustomed to the much quicker college game.
However, this year, Bankson, who has 369 wins in 25 seasons at B-W as coach and athletic director, has a team of shooters who are not "gun-shy", and Santiago is one of them.
A year ago, Bankson and his staff recruited guards Brendan Schuler (Fairview Park) and Tyler Sekerak (Corry, Pa.). This year, Santiago, who resides in Brook Park headlines a rich freshman class.
In five games, Santiago has come off the bench for the Yellow Jackets. He has helped B-W to a 4-1 record, including a tournament championship at the Buzz Ridl Classic at Westminster (Pa.) College two weeks ago. Santiago is averaging 7.6 points and two rebounds-per-game in 15.4 minutes of action. He had a career-high 11 points in the opening round of the National City Holiday Classic at the Allegheny (Pa.) College on Nov. 26.
Coach Bankson and his teammates are glad to see Santiago producing so early in his career.
"Dennis had an outstanding high school career," said Bankson, who also coached Santiago’s high school coach, Duke Barther, and the Meteor coach before him, Duane Sheldon. "Dennis is going to have an outstanding career at B-W.
"He is probably the best shooter we have in the program in terms of range," added Bankson. "Dennis can get his shot off quickly.
"In addition, Dennis is an intelligent young man who did well academically at Midpark," said Bankson "He is a quick study of our veterans."
Junior preseason All-American forward Tori Davis, last week’s Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Week, noticed Santiago’s talent the past few winters at the OHSAA District Tournament at B-W and spent the summer working with him at B-W’s George Finnie Stadium.
"Coming in from Midpark, Dennis was strictly a scorer, but now he has learned the different aspects of the game," said Davis, who became the newest member of B-W’s 1000-Point Club at the Allegheny Tournament. "I knew he was a good player, but the first two games of your career are the hardest. Not for Dennis. He has been making really good progress.
"Dennis has the ability to stretch a defense, penetrate and him either a post player going to the basket or pass it back out to an open guard for the three-pointer," continued Davis. "We are very excited to have Dennis at B-W and in our basketball program."
Santiago, an 18-year old shooting guard interested in pursuing a business degree, is happy to be contributing to the success of the team.
"I want to get a lot of p.t. (playing time) and learn as much about the game of basketball as I can from coach Bankson and our upperclass team leaders," said Santiago, who has canned seven-of-17 three-pointers and contributed four assists and made four steals. "I want to help out in every category; points, assists, steals and rebounds. If I can contribute in a balanced way, I know I can help our team win. That is the most important thing."
Bankson believes the experience of Schuler, Sekerak and senior All-OAC guard Keith Aufmuth (Brooklyn) will help Santiago’s development from a high school star to an effective college player.
"Brendan [Schuler] and Tyler] [Sekerak] were going through the same things last winter that Dennis is going through now," said Bankson, who led B-W to the 2005 OAC Tournament title and a berth in last year’s NCAA Division III National Tournament with a 20-9 record.
"Having Keith [Aufmuth] as a mentor will help him a lot too," said Bankson. "He will learn the tricks of the trade and the various things he needs to do to become a better player. Although it is early in the season, we can already see Dennis making solid progress."
Stepping up in big situations is nothing new for Santiago. As a Midpark Meteor, Santiago averaged 23 points, five assists and four rebounds-per-game. He finished number one on the school’s all-time scoring list. Santiago also was a two-time Pioneer Conference Most Valuable Player.
Santiago is proud of his accomplishments during high school.
"That entire season [last year] was one of the greatest experiences of my life," said Santiago, who combined with University of Findlay recruit Lee Roberts to help Midpark advance to the District semifinals before falling to the Solon Comets, 57-55.
"For us to go undefeated during the regular season and advance into the District Tournament was a Cinderella story," continued Santiago. It was a great experience to play Solon at B-W with all of those people in a packed gymnasium (capacity crowd of 3,000 fans)."
However, as much as he accomplished at Midpark, Santiago realizes there is a very high level of competition in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
"The tempo of the game is definitely more fast-paced," said Santiago. "In college, everybody can shoot. In high school, there are one or two good players per team. On the college level, you have to watch film and know your opponent if you want to come out on top."
Santiago gives a lot of credit for his success to his father, Dennis, who was a scholarship football player for the University of Akron and a graduate of Midpark’s rival, Berea High School.
"My dad pushes me to accomplish goals. He challenged me to step my game up to a different level every year," said Santiago, who played with former Cleveland Central Catholic and current Denver Nuggets star Earl Boykins in a summer league. "He pushes me in school too. He challenges me to get good grades."
The Yellow Jackets opened OAC action last Saturday (Dec. 3) at Otterbein College. So far, Santiago and B-W have beaten seventh-ranked St. John Fisher (N.Y.) College, 88-79, at Westminster, but lost 75-72 to eighth-ranked Albion (Mich.) College at Allegheny. Also at Westminster, Santiago and his teammates beat the host school in the championship game, 133-113, and set a B-W school single-game scoring record. B-W also beat Oberlin College, 96-80.
Despite the early challenges on the schedule, Santiago has lofty goals for the season.
"I want to win the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season and OAC Tournament titles and go far in the NCAA Division III Nationakl Tournament," said Santiago. "I want to have a better record than they had last year.
"I came here to get a good, solid education and play on a championship basketball team," stated Santiago. "This team is very talented and well-coached. I feel that we have the talent and ability to be very good. But it takes hard work and no one on this team is afraid of hard work."
This Saturday (Dec. 10), B-W opens its 2005-2006 home schedule when it plays OAC rival Muskingum College in the Ursprung Gymnasium of the Lou Higgins Center at 3:00 p.m. Prior to that game, B-W will honor brothers Thad and Tori Davis. Tori Davis will be honored for his 1,000th career point. Thad Davis will be acknowledged as the 2005 OAC Player of the Year and as an NCAA Division III All-American.
Who know. Four years from now, it could be Dennis Santiago being honored just like Thad and Tori Davis. Stay tuned!
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