By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
The Shaker Bison, located in Latham, N.Y., have developed into a squad poised to potentially defend its New York State Class AAA Championship.
Under the tutelage of head coach Aric Kucel, the Bison won its first ever state championship last March. With a decent chunk of its production returning from a year ago, the roster still contains players that helped Shaker form its championship DNA.
“It’s our culture,” Kucel said. “It’s a winning attitude, it’s a winning mindset. And our seniors, they set the tone for our team and for our program.”
Among those seniors are Shaker’s starting backcourt duo of Bless Demand and Melvin Brown, as well as center Anthony Tleiji.
Demand, who runs the point for Shaker, knows the team is rolling in the right direction at this point in the season.
“Obviously we have a new team, and coming in we had some things we had to fix up, but it’s all a process, and I feel like in the long run we should be good,” Demand said.
Shaker dropped its opening game of the season but responded nicely, and won 10 of its last 11 contests, including a 5-0 start in league games. The Bison extended their current winning streak to six with a win over Connecticut powerhouse East Catholic in the opening game of the 2026 Panini Hoophall Classic, with a 65-54 win.
East Catholic got off to a hot start, shooting 70% from the field in the first half, and Shaker was forced to deal with bouncing back from a five-point halftime deficit.
They rebounded nicely, and locked in on the defensive side in the fourth quarter. Through connected team defense, the Bison allowed just four points in the final quarter, and good free throw shooting down the stretch from Demand, who ended 12-14 from the charity stripe, gave Shaker a very hard fought win.
“In the first half, they shot 70 percent from the field, so it’s hard to score when you are taking the ball out of the net, right?” Kucel said. “Defensively in the second half, we turned up the heat a little bit. They were 6-23 from the field. Our defense is our best offense, we got some stuff out in transition, found some shooters. It was a good response by us in the second half.”
Kucel is helping build a nice legacy at Shaker, which was once the home of University of North Carolina superstar and 17-year NBA veteran Sam Perkins. A native of Gloversville, N.Y., he eventually became the head coach of his alma mater in 2015. Five years later, he made the decision to venture an hour east to Shaker, where he has built a nice legacy for himself in the Albany area.
“I’m a Gloversville guy, so I played high school hoops there, and just along the way, I figured out I’m 5-foot-9, I’m short, I’m small and I’m not going to make it to the pros,” Kucel said. “So I wanted my life to revolve around basketball, and it’s the biggest blessing of my life. I became a coach and met these kids and impacted their lives.”
“I came over to Shaker in 2020, and I’m on a hell of a ride right now,” Kucel said.
Kucel and the rest of the Bison hope to carry that ride to another class AAA state championship, something Demand and his teammates know is possible.
“Obviously [our goal is] another state title, but first we got to win our section,” Demand said.
Photo courtesy of River Mitchell/The Student