Dover boys basketball leans on experience amid roster turnover

Dover’s boys basketball team has fewer veterans and a lot of new faces this year. For the Tornadoes, though, the old faces are in the right places as the team transitions back into a conference for the first time in a while.

Dover is coming off an 11-12 season last year in head coach Matt Von Kaenel’s first year as head coach after 23 as an assistant. They were not in a league the last three seasons but this year will compete in the Ohio Cardinal Conference. They won their first three conference contests.

The Tornadoes will have a bit of a different look this year, with six letter-winners not returning from the 2024-25 season. Four are back, though, and they make up a solid nucleus.

That group is led by 6-foot point guard Rob Copple. A 14-point scorer who averaged four assists per game a year ago, Copple received a special mention on the All-Ohio team.

Copple has picked up where he left off, averaging 25 points in Dover’s four victories to start the season. He is joined in the backcourt by 6-foot junior Luke Leggett, an all-district honorable mention recipient after averaging 7 points a year ago. 

Also back are 6-2 senior forward/center Cam Nauer and 6-2 sophomore Dieter Weber, who already has shown to be a force on the boards. 

“We return three starters who will be counted on heavily,” Von Kaenel said, referring to Copple, Leggett and Nauer. 

Noah McLelland, a 5-10 senior guard/forward, and Jarin Starler, a 6-foot junior shooting guard, are the elder statesmen among the newcomers, the rest of whom are sophomores. That list includes 6-foot guards Gavin Van Horn and Jacob Noretto; 5-10 guards Dante Clark and Jaxon Barton; 5-10 forward Colton Durant; and 6-2 forward Deacon Wise.

“They are like sponges,” Von Kaenel said. “Trying to gain knowledge about the game, our philosophy and the culture we are trying to grow.”

Von Kaenel said his team would look for more running opportunities this year and will rely on speed and quickness. A bit undersized as a group, the Tornadoes certainly could use any speed advantage they might have.

The Tornadoes began the season with wins in four of their first five games – they had a pair of contests between deadlines and the publication of this edition – and all four victories were decided by six or fewer points. That’s an upgrade from a year ago when Dover was just 2-2 in close games.

In addition to the standbys, Von Kaenel said this year he’d like his team to show “growth every day and humility – basketball is a team sport and we aren’t much without each other.”

Beyond that, the second-year mentor is looking forward to continuing to work with what overall is a fairly new group and “watching them grow into successful adults.”