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COLLEGE MEN'S BASKETBALL: A FIFTH-YEAR CAPTAIN; A SENSATIONAL SOPHOMORE HELP LEAD EC MEN (2022-11-08)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
A lot has happened to Quintel Clements during his career.

He went through a Covid year. He went through a coaching change, and now he’s back at Elmira for his fifth year, ready to lead the team as captain.

“I think Quintel is kind of a poster child for why we had that fifth year,” Elmira College coach Casey McGraw said. “With Covid. He went through a coaching change, he went through a lot and now he’s a fifth-year senior, adopting 11 new teammates and kind of corralling them into success, he’s the poster child.

“He’s taken full advantage of it. He’s changed his body over the summer and I think he really dedicated himself to being a leader to the likes I haven’t seen before. I’m really excited for it.”

For Clements it’s different being back this season while the seniors he came in with are graduated.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “Every day I wake up and I see the guys, I basically came in with, they aren’t here any more. It’s a whole different experience. But, it’s an experience I am grateful for. Coach McGraw has given me an opportunity to be a true leader and step up and show the newer guys and even guys that have been here a while, we are trying to make a change for this program.

“I will say it’s really nice. I really do miss my guys, but this is a great opportunity. I’m all about new experiences and going out of my comfort zone and this is a huge step out of my comfort zone, being by myself, and I”m just adjusting to it and taking it day by day.”

The season kicks off for the Soaring Eagles tonight at Penn College.

The team has a good mix of talent this year, including last year’s newcomer of the year in the conference, Bryan Adams.

While Adams had success a year ago, he is hoping for more this year.

“I’m very excited, we have a good group this year,” he said. “I feel like we could do more than we did last year. I feel like I could do more than I did last year.”

McGraw knows the team has a lot of leadership on the team this year.

“It’s been a really nice blend having Quintel Clements back as a fifth-year senior, having Harry (Ravitz) and Jeff (Jung Jr.) as fourth year seniors, then having the new breed of guys, and Bryan is kind of in there. Bryan came in as a freshman last year and had a great role. I think eh’s taken that step to being a leader this year. I’m really excited for him. It’s been an interesting blend of a few seniors, one or two guys in those middle classes that have played, and then 11 new faces.

“I think we have three really good examples of leaders. There is Quintel, he is kind of a vocal guy. He’s the wise one, he’s about 30 years old, as we joke. He’s kind of the older, vocal one. Harry Ravitz is a lead by example guy. He plays as hard as anybody, he knows all the stuff, he plays exactly the way we want it to be done. And, then there is Bryan, who is a super talented kid, who had a great year last year. I think just by the way he moves, by the way he operates he has made it clear he is not satisfied. He wants to win, he wants team success. It’s not about him. I think having those three guys and three different examples, I think it’s something unique and I hope we can take advantage of it.”


FROM NEWFIELD TO ELMIRA COLLEGE CAPTAIN
For Clements when the extra year was presented due to the Covid season he knew he wanted to return this season.

“I love my coaches and as much as I love them, I saw the talent we have from last year that is coming back, and then our new guys and I believe in our guys 100%,” Clements said. “I really believe it’s possible we can make the Empire 8 Tournament and I believe wholeheartedly and I know we will.

“In the back of my mind I always kind of knew I wanted to come back. When coach McGraw and coach Pisc (Chris Piscioneri) actually asked e I felt honored, and I felt like I had to take it.”

For Clements it is extremely special to be the team’s captain.

“It’s pretty crazy,” he said. “Especially since in my first years now this is the first time we’ve actually acknowledged we had a captain, so to the first it’s truly an honor and a blessing.”

It’s special for Clements to know the coaches have faith in him.

“It truly does,” Clements said of giving him confidence. “Coach McGraw always says I’m like an extension to the coaches. That means a lot and it means even more that my teammates wholeheartedly believe I’m a good captain and I’m a good leader.”

Clements went to work this summer to get into the type of shape he believes he needs to be in order to really lead the team this year.

“It was a lot,’ he said. “I know the type of season we had to have, I was going to have to be at my best. So, that was in the back of my mind going into this summer.

“I spent Monday through Friday in the weight room. I spent a lot of time on my body. We play a lot of big, strong guys in our conference and that’s just what I thought of.”

For Clements it’s all been a huge change since he first came to Elmira five years ago.

“I can still remember the first time freshman year I ran into one of those big guys out here and it wasn’t high school at all,” Clements said. “The weight room is such a beautiful thing. Spending just a little bit of time there can help so much.”

The captain has made sure to talk to the younger players about what it takes to get stronger and compete in the Empire 8 Conference.

“I definitely try and put emphasis on it,” Clements said. “Especially, we have a lot of guards coming in and our conference, we play a lot of strong guards. You don’t have to be in the weight room two hours, it just takes 45 minutes to get better and that’s what we really need.”

The team has a good group of newcomers, and a couple of them are former area players like Clements, with J.J. Babcock coming from Athens and Riley Spencer coming from Chenango Valley.

“I’m pumped up,” McGraw said. “It’s been a very fun fall watching these guys get after it, get better. I’m excited to see how much they can handle all the ups and downs. Having him (Clements) being a local guy is huge. We hear about Newfield often, then adding J.J. Babcock this year, and Riley Spencer out of Chenango Valley. Trying to get those guys an hour and in, that’s a really big strategy for us. Trying to get those guys who can really play and want to stay close to home. Q has been a huge sell for them.

“They (all the newcomers) have been great. They have been great. We went threw a lot at them in terms of X’s and O’s and trying to learn the offense, the first week their heads were spinning a little bit, but I think they’ve done a really good job of learning it, of being sponges and listening to the older guys. I’m really excited about this new group of players.”

For Clements it is fun seeing other players from the area join the team.

“I love it,” Clements said. “I tell coach McGraw all the time, we need more Class D players. I try and look out for my class D boys. Section 4 has some good players and I’m glad Coach McGraw sees that.”

For Clements, he’s proud of where he came from, and he really hopes that kids in Newfield, and throughout the area see that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can have success.”

“Especially toward my teammates, I tell them all time, I went to a little Class D school, but we are here at the same place. Every time I step on the court, I’ve got Class D, especially Newfield. I represent Newfield wholeheartedly. You can ask the guys now, we just won a state championship (Newfield last year) and I expressed that to all my teammates furiously. I’m a proud Newfield guy.

“I hope they do (see that anything is possible). I know they (Newfield) have some great talent over there. Jalen Hardison, he was the state player of the year and Heze McCoy. We have some great players over there and I just hope I can be a great leader and encourage them that we can really do this, and go play college basketball anywhere we want.”

Clements is excited for this season and ready to see what this team can do.

“I am extremely excited,” he said. “Everyone knows No. 10 on our team (Adams), he’s unstoppable. We have a lot of great guys coming in. We have some transfers coming in. We have Brijon Warren, he was unable to play last year, but he’s going to be a big help for us this year. We have Harry Ravitz who was a demon on the offensive rebounds last year, and we have a lot of young guys who are ready to learn and ready to compete. I’m really excited about this year’s team.

“It’s truly just exciting, we love to compete against each other. Just watching, I can tell the energy is there, the competitive nature is there, it’s going to be a great season for us.”


THE UNSTOPPABLE NO. 10
As Clements said, Adams is unstoppable. And, that’s something that seemed to be true a year ago when he was a six-time rookie of the week, and the rookie of the year in the Empire 8 conference.

Adams was the first player in school history to earn Rookie of the Year honors, after scoring 17.5 points a game last season, the 10th best total in program history.

He led the team in scoring, field goals per games, three-pointers, free throws, assists and steals.

While Adams had a great season a year ago, he doesn’t feel like there will be extra attention on him this year.

“I don’t see any eyes on me,” he said. “I don’t think there should be any eyes on me, if there is, I feel like as a team we’ll be all right.”

While he’s coming off a huge season, he also knows the team has plenty of other leaders, which allows him to just go out and play basketball.

“I feel like it’s great,” Adams said. “Q, being a veteran kind of paving the way for the younger guys. Also myself, it’s great to have that kind of leadership on the team.

“It takes a lot (of pressure) off with Q being a leader. Also, we have a lot of sophomores on the team and vets from last year, there is no pressure. There are a lot of leaders on the team.”

And, the team has talented newcomers who have quickly gelled with the team.

“We are super close, we all got close in a matter of three weeks, so I’m excited.”

Having guys like Clements and Revitz inside also opens things up for Adams on the perimeter.

“Lot of inside out,” he said. “The inside out game is going to be a lot of fun.

“It helps a lot because then I don’t have to get fouled and stuff like that, and we have a lot of knockdown shooters.”

As good as last year was, Adams had a lot of challenges. He hadn’t played in a while, and there were still some Covid restrictions that limited preparation for last season.

“I didn’t play at all my senior year, so basically just coming from junior year of high school, it was tough, very tough, a lot of ups and downs,” Adams said. “It’s going to be an easier kind of start, but I still feel like it’s going bro be ups and downs.”

Having a normal offseason let Adams go back to work and get better for this year.

“It was a great offseason, got stronger, faster, everybody put in work,” Adams aid. “Just wanted to work on getting stronger, being more comfortable around the paint.”
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IN TOP PHOTO: Elmira’s Quintel Clements. . . PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES




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