[Stardust]

BURGIN — Every winter for 32 years, Don Irvine has been on the bench for a basketball game.
But this is the last one for the Burgin boys coach in his second go-around with the Bulldogs.
“My last son (Sam) is graduating, and we’ve got a good senior class. And with (assistant) Tim (Abbott) passing away earlier, that took a lot of wind out of my sails. So it’s time. I’ve never put it out there that I’ll never be back helping or doing something at some time. But right now, it’s time to retire.”
But Irvine still has one winter to go, and he likes the team he’ll put out in the floor.
“We’ve got most of the guns back. I think we’re very physical. We’re not as physical as I’d like us to be, but I don’t think we ever are, as far as rebounding,” Irvine said. “But as far as getting after loose balls and giving you hustle plays, we’re good about that. We’re just so much bigger than we were last year. But our guards are small. We’re big inside and small on the outside.”
Junior Alex Beckerson averaged 14.9 points and 8 rebounds per game last year. He is joined by 14-point-per-game scorer Austin Shewmaker, who won a 12th Region 3-point contest this summer, as the top returning scorers.
Senior guard Travis McEachern will play both guard spots and small forward.
On the inside, Sam Irvine, a 6-5, 210-pound senior is expected to be “a rock” for the Bulldogs, according to his father and coach. “If we can get him to rebound and play stronger in the paint, he’ll be one of the keys for us,”¿Don Irvine said.
Senior Myles Hills and junior Nick Beckerson are also going to be counted on inside. Returning in the backcourt for Burgin are juniors Jared Robbins, Jared Powell and Caleb Goodpaster along with sophomore Mason¿Myers.

Keys to the Season
Shooting and ball-handling are going to be the keys to success for Burgin.
“I think our defense is good enough. Our rebounding, we’ll survive rebounding-wise,”¿Irvine said. “I just think we’re going to have to take care of the ball against these quicker teams.”

Player to Watch
Alex Beckerson was not healthy last season after a cross country injury.
“He’s been healthy this year and hopefully that will contribute to him playing stronger in side,”¿Irvine said. “He’s working on his hands a lot, his hand-eye coordination.”

Top Newcomer
Nick Beckerson saw limited time last year, and has grown from 5-10 to 6-2 over the summer and gotten stronger.
“He’s very aggressive. He’s going to be our next post guy that’s coming along,”¿Irvine said.

Biggest Concern
Irvine hopes when the Bulldogs play bigger guards, they can still be effective.
“Our deal is, you get in and play some of these teams that have 6-1, 6-2 guards and you’ve got a 5-8 guard of the same speed, so you’re at a disadvantage. And last year we had trouble shooting the ball at times. When we we’re good, we were very good and we when we were bad, we were horrid.”

Top Returning Players
Alex Beckerson, 6-5 Jr. F, 14.9 ppg, 8 rpg.
Sam Irvine, 6-5 Sr. C, 9 ppg, 4 rpg.
Travis McEachern, 5-10 Sr. G-F, 6 ppg, 6 rpg, 3 apg.
Jared Robbins, 5-9 Jr. G, 4 ppg, 3 apg.
Austin Shewmaker, 6-1 Sr. G, 14 ppg.