Marty Stewart | Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, TRIB-LIVE
Heading into his senior season, Fox Chapel basketball player Jake Livingston said making the WPIAL playoffs is a priority for him and his Foxes teammates.
“We made a strong run to the playoffs in my sophomore year and made it to the semifinals,” he said. “We want to get back this year.”
Livingston, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound forward, has been playing basketball for as long as he can remember.
“I’ve always had a ball in my hands back to first grade,” he said.
The height always has been there, too.
“I’ve been pretty big my whole life so I was pretty much always the biggest kid on the court.”
He has narrowed his college choices to Case Western, the University of Rochester and Denison. He plans to major in business and wants to continue playing basketball.
He spent the summer working on improving a few aspects of his game.
“I wanted to work on my outside shooting and becoming a smoother ball-handler.”
He played for an AAU team, the Pittsburgh Nets, all summer.
“We were coached by a former Fox Chapel player, Brian Urso,” he said. “It was a good experience.”
Livingston, who averaged 14.1 points last year, is looking forward to the challenge of a new section with new opponents.
“It will be awesome. It is going to be a very tough section, and we can’t afford to take a night off. Every game will be a battle.”
Last year’s leading scorer, Mike Zappala, graduated but Livingston, in his third year as a starter, said he and his teammates don’t feel any pressure to fill the points void.
“We’re going to have many scoring options. Michael Snowball and Carson Cohen, our guards, will be able to put points up, and I’m confident in my scoring ability,” he said. “We’re a team that looks for the open man, and we all have confidence in each other.”