At the end of last season, the Palmerton boys' basketball program began their transition.

Leigh Keenan stepped down as head coach, ushering out the old, while making room for the new.Enter Ken Termini, a former boys coach at Palisades (2013-16).Termini, who has been part of the Palmerton program during the offseason, has adjusted well and remains steadfast in his ability to lead this year's squad."The transition has gone well," Termini said. "The community has been great, and the boys have handled the new personnel well and are eager to learn, and willing to work hard."We had extensive offseason workouts, including early morning workouts at 6 a.m., and everything has been well-attended."Termini's experience is lengthy and most of it local, as he served as an assistant coach at several schools, including Palisades for eight years, Nazareth for 10, Liberty for two and Catasauqua for one."Palmerton has not had a winning record in many years, so in that regard, it's a lot like Palisades when I took over there in '13," the coach said. "We are learning a new system and we are very young, but if we work hard, we have the potential to grow into a good basketball team. We will not use our youth as an excuse."That youthful lineup will need to begin by trying to replace the leadership, scoring and other contributions of Spencer Hay, the 2015-16 Times News Player of the Year."No one person could replace Spencer," Termini said. "We will need everyone to step up and contribute, and that isn't limited to scoring. We need everyone to share the ball and rebound the ball, too."When it comes to personnel, there's no better place to start than with senior Joey Suto (6-2, F). As the sole returner to the roster with any varsity experience from a year ago, Termini looks to Suto for leadership, on-court intellect, and production, as well."We have four seniors, but only one will see extensive playing time, and that's Joey, who will be our team captain. We lost over 90 percent of our scoring … our returning players averaged a combined four points per varsity game last year."Our motto is 'Five playing as One,' everyone is important and everyone is a leader. It is highly likely I will start at least two players who are sophomores or younger. As of now, four of our top eight varsity players are sophomores or younger."Joining Suto in the lineup will be a healthy mix of youth and ability, as sophomores Nate Dougherty (6-0, G), Jevon Nelson (6-2, F), and Zach Silfies (6-2, F), along with freshman Justin Hosier (6-2, F), will all vie for action.Termini also maintains that a group of juniors will all play key roles in the Bombers' outcome, including Eric Baumgardt (5-10, G), Ryan Yacone (6-2, F), Luke Yaindl (5-10, G), and Jacob Taschler (6-2, F).After an 8-14 season last year, the Bombers are hoping to take on their list of goals one at a time."Our goals are the same as most teams and that's to win games and play for championships, but our main focus is on improvement," Temini admits. "We are focused on one game at a time, and if we are constantly getting better, the wins will take care of themselves."