SIDNEY — Basketball wasn’t in Sidney coach John Willoughby’s thoughts much during a vacation with his wife and granddaughter to Disney World last summer.
But while standing in line for an ‘Avatar’ ride, he found the motto for the Yellow Jackets’ season: Sivako.
“When we were in line, and they were explaining that for the community of avatars, their slogan was, ‘sivako,’ rise to the occasion. They’ll rise to any occasion,” Willoughby said. “And I thought that could apply to (the team).
“We were going to be young, there wasn’t a lot of kids coming out, we were going to be facing a lot of challenges, and we’ll see if we can rise to the occasion and meet those challenges.”
Sivako was printed on the back of Sidney’s warmup shirts, and the squad took it seriously — and more than rose to the occasion in regular season.
Now, the Yellow Jackets are hoping to do the same in tournament play.
Despite returning one player from last year’s 10-9 squad, the Yellow Jackets finished regular-season play with an 18-4 overall record and 16-2 MVL record after defeating Greenville 67-50 on Friday.
Friday’s win over the Green Wave secured at least a share of the overall MVL title for the Yellow Jackets.
But they don’t have to share. Tippecanoe, which was tied for first place, lost 53-44 to the Green Wave (4-18) in a makeup game on Monday. The loss dropped the Red Devils (16-5) to 15-3 in MVL play and gives Sidney sole possession of the overall MVL title — just like the Yellow Jackets’ girls squad.
Unlike Sidney’s girls squad, the boys squad wasn’t high on anyone’s list to win the MVL title this year.
“A lot of people told me in preseason we’d be lucky to be .500,” Willoughby said.
Senior forward Jaden Swiger, a three-year varsity player, was the squad’s lone returning letterwinner. Everyone else on the varsity roster were junior varsity players a year ago.
But the group had a decent JV season a year ago, and Willoughby knew there was talent and potential. But would that translate to varsity action?
“When we got started in our scrimmages, I would have said we were in trouble,” Willoughby said. “But they turned it on. And I think defensively they turned it on the most. I didn’t know how good we were going to be defensively. That’s been a pleasant surprise to us. They play hard.
“The way they came in played without any varsity experience has been exceptional.”
Swiger, who is 6-foot-2 and routinely battles against players several inches taller in the post, was a key part of the 2019-2020 squad, which captured the overall MVL title in the league’s first year of existence.
After a disappointing campaign for Sidney last year, which included a two-week shutdown due to COVID-19 exposure among players, Swiger is happy to have earned another first-place finish.
“At the start of the year, it was a little shaky, but after we got started and after I had seen how much fight we had in us, how we can come back from being down, fight with be undersized, I knew we would be good.
“We’ve got a dog in us. We fight. After a couple of games, I could tell we’d be something special.”
Swiger knew the incoming group was talented, and he said it was an easy adjustment learning how to play with a new cast.
“It was kind of crazy going from the learner to the teacher, but I think I handled it well,” Swiger said. “It’s been an amazing year, with us handling being a young team. I feel we had a great year, and I love this team to death.
“… If we come out and we know what we can do and we play like how we can play, we can be great.”
Swiger scored 20 points on Friday against Greenville, brought down nine rebounds and blocked two shots. Willoughby said it was a fitting end on senior night.
“We talked to Jaden early in the year, and I told him he’d have to play like he’s player of the year in the league for us to be any good,” Willoughby said. “I told him that from day one. It didn’t bother him that he had to be. A lot of players don’t like that, don’t want the pressure. But Jaden came through for us.”
Junior wing guard Sam Reynolds has been the Yellow Jackets’ do-everything engine.
Reynolds, who is 6-2, plays all over the court. He leads the squad with an average of 16.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and averages 2.8 assists and 2.0 steals.
“He’s a player. It’s a natural thing for him,” Willoughby said. “We don’t call plays from him very often. He’s just really good at the open floor. His defense is great. He gets some steals, and he’s gone. And he can shoot the ball. For him to be better, he needs to work on his pull-up game a little, but other than that, he plays really good and is a natural. He has everything.”
The Yellow Jackets have far more than Reynold and Swiger.
Junior guard Myles Vordemark has been a key ball handler, defender and rebounder. He averages 9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
Senior forward Landon Davis has been a big help to Swiger inside and is solid ball handler and plays offense on the perimeter. He averages 5.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
Davis’ younger brother Mitchell, a sophomore forward, didn’t play the first five games due to a nose injury but has become another strong post presence off the bench. He averages 4.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.
Senior guard Jack Davidson has been a key bench player all season, and Willoughby has on numerous occasions cited him for bringing a spark. Davidson averages just under two points and two rebounds per game.
The last big piece has been freshman guard Julius Spradling, who has started all year. Spradling, who splits ball-handling duties with Vordemark, averages 7.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and a team-best 2.2 steals per game.
“We were fortunate the timing was there for Julius to (enter high school) this year and play with this group,” Willoughby said. “… He was probably the piece that was missing for us. I’m glad he’s been able to step in.
“You can’t tell he’s a freshman. There might have been a couple of games or parts of games where he’s maybe looked like a freshman, getting stuck in some traps, but other than that, you can’t tell. He’s a natural, and he’s so quick and plays so hard on defense.”
More than anything, Willoughby said the key to success has been the way the squad plays together.
“They’re selfless,” Willoughby said. “I just hope the community appreciates the togetherness and the effort the team showed all throughout the season.”
And the Yellow Jackets are hoping to show that in postseason play, too.
It will be a challenging road. Sidney was voted the No. 8 seed in the 19-team Dayton Division I sectional and will open tournament play on Wednesday against No. 13 Lebanon (9-13), which has played top Eastern Cincinnati Conference teams tough and beat 15-win Winton Woods 53-46 on Feb. 1.
If victorious, Sidney will face either MVL rival Piqua or Tecumseh in a second-round game on Tuesday.
The Yellow Jackets beat the Indians twice. The second game, which was in Piqua on Jan. 17, was close. The Indians used a 15-7 edge in the fourth quarter to close the final gap to 54-51. Sidney beat Tecumseh 56-55 on Dec. 30 in New Carlisle after Swiger hit a game-winner at the buzzer.
And if Sidney wins in the second round, it will very likely face defending D-I state champion Centerville in a district semifinal. The Elks are undefeated and have been ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press state poll all season.
While the road will be tough, Swiger said there’s only one thing Sidney can do: rise to the occasion.
“Continue to play how we play,” Swiger said. “That’s all I ask of my teammates is to play how we play. Go in with a clear mind, not a cloudy mind. Don’t be mad over this or mad over that. That’s a W at the end of the day, whether you did good or you did bad. You’ve got to be grateful to the team.”
