Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan Ursuline’s Jaden Payne goes up for a basket against Cardinal Mooney last season.

YOUNGSTOWN — Last year, Ursuline won at least 20 games for the first time since the 2014-2015 season.

The Fighting Irish went 22-3 and finished as a district runner up in Division II. However, despite graduating a decorated senior class that included two players that have gone on to play college basketball, Ursuline’s expectations are just as high, if not higher than they were last season.

“We expect to be in the same boat we were last year,” Gunther said. “We expect to win a lot of games. We expect to go deeper and further in the tournament that we did last year.

“I thought last year we fell a little bit shorter than where we should have. I think we lost to a good team, a team that had been to Columbus the year before. I’ll be honest, I thought we were a better basketball team, but we didn’t show it that night. I think this year we have a chance to be just as good, maybe even a little bit better.”

This year, Gunther wants his team to “take that next step.” That’s the mantra Ursuline has adopted thus far during preseason.

The past couple years, the Irish have been one of the top teams in the Mahoning Valley, while also increasing their win totals each season in the process. But now they want to establish themselves on a regional, perhaps even state level, as well.

“We’ve taken great steps the last couple of years — we’ve gotten better,” Gunther said. “But now we want to make noise not just locally, but we want to try to make noise out of Northeast Ohio.”

In order to do that, Gunther has “beefed up” Ursuline’s schedule. While the Irish will continue to play top local teams such as Canfield, Warren G. Harding, Cardinal Mooney, Chaney and Howland, Ursuline will also face Massillon, St. Vincent-St. Mary, Canton Central Catholic and Archbishop Hoban.

“We won a ton of regular season games last year, but we felt like when we got to that district final game (against Gilmour Academy), we hadn’t been tested against a team like that,” Gunther said. “There’s going to be a lot of good teams on our schedule. Record might not be as good as it could be, but we feel like we’ll be more tested for the tournament.”

This year, Ursuline will be led by four seniors, two of whom were starters last season — forward Jaden Payne and wing Geno Lucente.

“As you get older, you get more mature and you get more confident,” Gunther said. “I thought (Payne) got stronger over the summer and he hit the weight room. Now, it’s his and Geno’s team. When guys are good as sophomores and juniors and then their senior year comes around, they feel like it’s their chance to take over and be the leader of the team.”

The Irish also return their starting point guard from last year in junior Dashaun Will.

Gunther also thinks junior Jared Klucinec, a transfer from South Range, and sophomore Myles Miller will be key parts of the team’s rotation.

But Ursuline’s three freshmen newcomers have a chance to make a splash at the varsity level for the Irish out of the gates. Two of them, Gunther’s son Jaylen and 6-foot-6 forward Jace Riccardo, already have college interest. The third freshman is guard/forward Noah Bell.

“Everybody knows we have three of the best freshmen in Northeast Ohio,” Gunther said. “We feel like if we can get these guys to learn really quick, we have a chance to be good right out of the gate. They play hard, they’re tough and they’re confident — they don’t play like freshmen. … The three freshmen will play major minutes for us.

“They’ve proven themselves in the scrimmages. Now what we have to do is we have to get this team to gel the right way — put the pieces of the puzzle together slowly in the beginning and hopefully, by tournament time, we’re a fine, well-oiled machine.”

Ursuline opens its season Dec. 2 in the North Catholic Tip-off Tournament against St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute from Buffalo, N.Y.

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com