OCIAA Boys Basketball All-Stars Announced, Kelder and Sheth Top Honorees

Ron Kelder had barely finished celebrating his 400th career coaching win when the honors kept coming. Five days after guiding the Kingston Tigers to an 81-64 victory over Our Lady of Lourdes in the Section 9 Class AAA championship game, the 30-year Kingston veteran was named Division I Coach of the Year by the OCIAA Basketball Coaches Association. His junior guard Max Sheth, a repeat winner, claimed Division I Player of the Year honors when the association released its full slate of divisional all-stars on March 12.

Kingston finished first in the OCIAA Division I standings with a 7-1 divisional record and went 16-7 overall. The Section 9 title game on March 7 was never close: the Tigers scored the game's first 23 points and built a 33-3 lead before closing out Lourdes. The season ended four days later when Section 1 champion Mamaroneck eliminated Kingston 64-45 in a first-round Class AAA state playoff game at Yorktown High.

Kelder, who has won seven Section 9 titles in three decades at Kingston, deflected credit when asked about the milestone win. "Every game I coached is a big game," he said. "I don't coach to be close or to be second fiddle. I coach to put the best team out there, prepared and ready to play. To me, it just means that I had a lot of great players and I have, and I'm blessed with a team that plays hard for me. It's not about me. It's about those kids over there."

On Sheth, Kelder was equally effusive. "Max is a true basketball junkie," the coach said. "He wants to be in the gym constantly. He works on his trade and he's improved tremendously from last year. The expectation is that he will have the same growth from the previous two years to next year. He just keeps getting better and better."

Two other Tigers earned spots on the All-Division I team. Junior Kevin Castillo, who Kelder said "came off an injured-plagued sophomore season to shine in his junior campaign," and senior Syed Lewis were both selected. Of Lewis, Kelder noted: "Syed came off a season that was probably disappointing to him to one of the most pleasurable kids to coach all year. He was totally connected and totally engaged with his team and doing everything possible he could do to help the team. He just bought in this year and I was really happy with his growth and maturity."

The full All-Division I team also included Rudy Cherry, Jeremiah Forbes and Isaiah Jackson from Middletown; Kristopher Bjaelker, Fabrice Ndja and Dozie Nwigwe from Monroe-Woodbury; Alex Barrett, Jahsir Davis and Mason McMillian from Newburgh Free Academy; and Matthew Guzman and Lenny Manzueta from Pine Bush.

Across the other divisions, Goshen swept the Division II awards with Jimmy Kelly named Player of the Year and Sal D'Angelo earning Coach of the Year. Beacon's Michai Thompson took Division III Player of the Year and Patrick Schetter was named Division III Coach of the Year. O'Neill's Sean Larkins claimed Division IV Player of the Year, with Peter DeLeo honored as Division IV Coach of the Year. In Divisions V/VI, Eldred's Trai Kaufmann and S.S. Seward's Grey Whitmore shared Player of the Year recognition, while Eldred's Bill Furler was named Coach of the Year.