PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Dillon Kingsbury brings a variety of experiences into his first season as head coach of his alma mater.
Kingsbury spent his first four years as the Easton boys coach before a one-year stint with the Houlton boys’ program. His next stop was with the Central Aroostook girls, which included a Class C state title in 2020, before spending last season as Jeff Hudson’s assistant with the Presque Isle girls.
Now he takes over for Terry Cummings as the Wildcat boys head coach and he’s looking forward to competing in the Big East Conference, which he calls one of the most competitive leagues in the state.
“There are no nights off, with multiple teams able to beat each other on a given night,” Kingsbury said. “We’ll have to avoid the injury bug and learn to defend the basketball in the halfcourt if we want to win games in our conference.”
PI is coming off a season in which it went 9-8 during the regular season, bested Hermon in a home preliminary playoff game and fought hard with No. 1 Ellsworth before succumbing in the late stages of their quarterfinal matchup.
The Wildcats bring back two senior starters, including their top scorer in first team Big East all-conference player Malachi Cummings, as well as forward Jack Hallett.
“Malachi brings a tremendous amount of athleticism and he’s one of the best players in all of Class B. We’ll rely on him heavily on both the offensive and defensive sides,” Kingsbury said. “Jack is a great rebounder and good all-around defender who will need to expand his role on the offensive end if we are to be successful.”
Senior Brayden Castonguay is a quick guard with the ability to shoot from behind the three-point arc and he will join junior forward Jack Buck as starters. Buck is 6-5 and will be the team’s interior presence.
The other starting spot is up for grabs, with candidates being senior guards Dawson Beaulieu and Ben Turner, junior guard Wyatt Young and senior forward Michael Langley.
Also fighting for minutes in the rotation will be sophomore Brent Greenlaw, juniors Jack Boone and Jasiah Wilson and freshman Eli Mosher.
“We have really good athletes from the top of our roster to the bottom,” Kingsbury said. “We’ll need to shoot the ball consistently and find different players besides Malachi to score for us.”
Jonah Hudson will serve as Kingsbury’s assistant coach. The team’s managers are Summer Sponberg and Alyssa Blade.
“This is a motivated group and we’ve seen nothing but commitment and hard work during tryouts and early practices,” Kingsbury said. “We understand that the season is a marathon and not a sprint and there are many more days of hard work ahead of us.”
