Peters Township guard reaches milestone
Donovan scores 1,000th career point
Dylan Donovan achieved a milestone during his basketball career at Peters Township High School.
On Dec. 8, the 6-1 senior guard surpassed the 1,000-point plateau during a 62-46 loss against Seneca Valley at the AHN Arena.
“Scoring 1,000 points in high school is an incredible accomplishment,” said PT head coach Joe Urmann.
After firing in 10 tallies in the first frame, Donovan scored on a short jumper at the midway point in the second stanza to reach the 1,000-point mark. He had 16 of his team’s first half points as the Indians were tied with the Raiders, 28-28, and he picked up three more to start the third quarter. Donovan finished with 21 markers.
Scoring 1,000 career points has been a goal of Donovan’s since he started playing basketball. He said he remembered telling his parents about his dream.
“So now to see it come true is awesome,” said the 19-year-old son of Dan and Katie Donovan.
“Obviously I would like to thank my coaches and teammates. Although this is an individual achievement, basketball is a team sport and you can’t do it on your own.”
Passion propelled Donovan to basketball acclaim.
“Dylan deserves a ton of credit for developing his talent with hard work over the years,” Urmann said. “He absolutely loves the game, and he has contributed immensely to all of our success as a program ever since his freshmen year.”
Donovan, who began playing basketball at age 4, devoted himself to the game after suffering a health scare. In eighth grade, he incurred a knee injury in football.
“So I stopped playing football,” he said. “I didn’t want it to ruin my basketball career.
“Basketball is my first love. The competitiveness and the feeling it gives me when everything goes well is something you cannot get from anything else.”
Donovan has earned everything that he has gotten, including an opportunity to break the program’s all-time scoring record set of 1,292 points set by Eric Lang. Donovan is the ninth basketball player to reach 1,000 points in boys’ basketball history at Peters Township.
He puts the work in at practice and then he works some more. After a two-hour practice with the team, Donovan will train for another hour. If there is no practice, he will create his own drills.
“It’s a long process. A day-to-day routine that I started doing when I was around 7,” he said. “I do it to keep myself ahead of what everybody else is doing.”
Donovan’s labors have paid dividends for Peters Township. With him in the lineup, the Indians have become a perennial playoff power. He has played on two WPIAL runner-up clubs, including last year’s 19-9 team that played in two rounds of the state playoffs. The Indians have been 60-20 in the past three years and were off to a 3-1 start heading into section action this season.
In addition to being PT’s leading scorer, Donovan is a playmaker. He led the Indians in assists last year while averaging 18.9 points per game.
“Dylan’s a smart player,” Urmann said. “An excellent shooter and a threat to score both inside and out, but like all special players, at the end of the day, he just wants to win and get us back to The Pete.”
The Pete is the Petersen Events Center, which hosts the WPIAL championships. This year’s finals are scheduled for Feb. 26-28.
“Winning is the main goal,” Donovan said. “With the weight of (1,000 points) off my shoulders, we all can focus on the season and on reaching our goal of winning a WPIAL championship.”
With three full-time returning starters, including Donovan, the Indians are “working” their way back to the district finals.
They kicked off Section 3 action with back-to-back contests hosting Thomas Jefferson (Dec. 12) and visiting Baldwin (Dec. 16). The Jaguars and Highlanders are expected to be playoff contenders.
“Baldwin and TJ will be tough opponents in our section,” Urmann said.”
In addition to Donovan, the Indians look to Lucas Rost and Jake Wetzel for leadership along with Jayden Greco.
Rost, who helped the football team win a WPIAL championship and advance to the PIAA semifinals, and Wetzel are returning starters while Greco missed much of last year with an injury after having secured a starting spot.
A 6-8 junior forward, Wetzel provides the inside punch for the Indians. Last season, he averaged 7.4 points as well as 2.1 blocked shots a game. Wetzel scored 15 points in the loss to Seneca Valley.
Donovan, Rost and Greco are the lone seniors on the roster and are being relied upon for their leadership.
“We have some seniors who understand what it takes to win consistently at this level,” Urmann said. “That is a team strength but we need to improve our rebounding and free throw percentages.”
Newcomers such as Cooper Donovan, Lucas Saxe, Chase Chokel, Cam Kirch, Bear Glud, and Dan Dudek are all eager to assist.
“They want to make their mark on the varsity stage,” Urmann said.
The Indians started the season with victories against Canon-McMillan, 54-43, Avonworth, 68-41, and Northgate, 64-41, before falling to Seneca Valley. While the loss exposed areas the Indians need to improve, corrections have been put in place that will evoke more positive results.
“We are working every day to get better,” Urmann said. “My expectations are that we become a team that plays hard, smart and together.”
Donovan is convinced the Indians have learned and recovered from the setback.
“Obviously it is hard losing, particularly when you get something like your 1,000th point, but the celebration (after) was cool,” he said. “We accepted the loss and have moved on from it. There’s a lot of responsibility and pressure now leading the team as a senior but I love it and enjoy it. We are a good team. I think things will fall in the right direction.”
During the pre-season, the Indians were ranked among the Top 5 teams in Class 5 of the WPIAL, with defending champion, Chartiers Valley receiving the nod for No. 1. Lincoln Park, Moon, Penn Hills and Gateway were also ranked.
“Class 5A is very strong,” said Urmann. He added that his group of players are “very coachable” and work hard” thus resulting in cautious optimism.
“We need to continue to grow to be more cohesive and learn fast because section play has arrived.
“We’ll see where that takes us,” he added.