New direction for boys basketball team

By John Molene
Posted 1/13/25

It’s going to a be a new-look Park boys basketball team this winter with a new head coach, new offense and defensive schemes and a host of new players to blend in with several key veterans.

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New direction for boys basketball team

Posted

It’s going to a be a new-look Park boys basketball team this winter with a new head coach, new offense and defensive schemes and a host of new players to blend in with several key veterans.

New boys' basketball head coach Isaiah Wallfred takes over the reins from Mike Weah, who led the Wolfpack for seven years. Wallfred was the head coach at Simley High School the past several seasons and coached at St. Paul Academy and Summit School and North St. Paul High School. His also has served as an assistant coach at Macalester College, the University of South Dakota, St. Mary’s and St. John’s.

Park will play a very aggressive pressure defense and a fast-paced running offense which won’t rely on one or two players to do the scoring, Wallfred said.

“We’re going to constantly stunting at the ball, pressuring the ball, guys are going to have a hand in their offensive players’ face,” said Wallfred. “We’re going to take charges; we’re going to get loose balls; we’re going to play with a lot of passion on defense. Offensively everyone is going to touch the ball. We’re going to move it; we’re going to share it and we’re probably going to play nine or 10 guys.”

Park returns exactly half of its top eight from a year ago.

Park must replace four seniors who either started or saw considerable court time: leading scorer Tayvion Stewart (15.8 ppg), AJ Kennedy (13.8 ppg), Kaeden Callais (10.5 ppg) and Cole West (1.9 ppg). Seniors Stewart, Kennedy, Callais, along with juniors Anthony Giadyu, Miskir Esayas and Dom Batts, got the bulk of the minutes last season so obviously the Wolfpack have some holes to fill this winter.

“The guys are doing great,” said Wallfred. “Great effort, great hustle, great attitudes. They want to learn and they’re really working together as a team.”

Park will have six seniors on the roster this season. Including three veteran guards in Giadyu (13.1 ppg), Esayas (7.2 ppg) and Adrian Davis (3.6 ppg). Other key players should include seniors Mac Maluski and Leo Eiden-Giel and juniors Keon Moody, Aaron Sandin, Brandon Bihm and Peyton Faber.

“Well, we’ve got Ant, the Ant Man, obviously, is going to be a great point guard for us,” said Wallfred as he ran down the list of key players. “Incredibly fast with the ball, great defender, can finish at the rim, and his shot is looking really good now. Miskir has been great. He’s a high-level shooter. We expect him to make a lot of threes. Mac is also a high-level shooter, can really get up and guard. I see him being a big part of it. Leo has been phenomenal. He’s going to be our five man. He’s really been passing the ball well. Aaron is rock solid, he’s another lights out shooter. We’ve got Brandon, Brandon brings a little flavor to the game. He’s full of fire and can make some shots. We’ve got Peyton, he’s our backup point guard. He can really shoot it, he can play. AD is phenomenal, really works hard, gets after it. He’s going to be a defensive guy for us. And Keon. He is our Swiss arm y knife, plays multiple positions and brings toughness and smarts.”

The Wolfpack went 11-7 in the Suburban East Conference a year ago, finishing tied for third in the league and were 13-14 overall. The Wolfpack lost to Eastview in the Section 3 quarterfinals a year ago.

The Wolfpack have an absolutely brutal three-game schedule to start the season, playing at fourth-ranked Park Center (27-4 last season, Class 4A state consolation champion) on Dec. 5, at Osseo (19-9 last season) on Dec. 7 and then at top-ranked Cretin-Derham Hall (25-6 last season, fourth at Class 4A state last year) on Dec. 10. Park’s first home game is against Stillwater on Friday, Dec. 13.

Park’s seniors gave their thoughts on the upcoming season:

 “I think we’re going to have a great season,” said Eiden-Giel. “We’ve got a lot of chem with a lot of dudes who have played together before and I’m excited to see how we do.

“I think we’ve been more focused on defense; coach has emphasized playing really good defense and that will probably be the key to our success this season,” said Esayas. “We have a lot of guards, quick guards so we’ll be able to fly around and try and get a lot of skills and try cause chaos on defense.”

Asked which teams will be the ones to beat in the conference, Giadyu picked “Definity Cretin for sure, I’ve got them in the top three. I’ll say East Ridge, too, Mounds View and I’ll say ourselves as well.”

Asked about the rugged opening week, Davis said, “I just feel like if we work together as a team and try out the stuff that we’ve been learning in practice and really apply it to the game we’ll be ready for the teams and put up a good challenge and even beat them.”

 “I’d say our expectations are just to play as a team and have fun,” said Maluski. “Obviously we want to win but the biggest goal is just striving and growing in our lives and growing as people. Having this game just teaches us lessons as we grow in our lives.”