NEWFANE — In less than four seconds, Landon Braman received an outlet pass, raced down the middle of the court and found a teammate out of the corner of his eye for an open 3-pointer.
Braman likes being in control of the offense, patiently waiting for the right pass. A point guard since fifth grade, Braman is a natural floor general.
The senior ranks fourth in Section VI with 4.8 assists per game and directs an offense that averages 66.4 points per game, the sixth-highest mark in the section and the most in the Niagara-Orleans League by 15.5 points.
He’s comfortable being the set-up man while his Newfane teammates execute the punchline with scoring inside and out. Learning how to incorporate everyone else’s skill-set has led Braman to emerge into a facilitator.
“My job’s kind of easy,” Braman said. “… Everyone can score the ball but it’s just my job to make sure when someone’s hot, we keep getting him the ball. And, making sure everyone gets their touches because we know, at any given time, anyone could explode.”
Braman averaged 9.1 points and 5.5 assists per game last year, but knew he could improve. Self-described as an introvert, Braman primarily keeps to himself. But, on the court, Braman has become one of Newfane’s vocal leaders.
And to further expand his skills, Braman packed his bags and attended the Point Guard College basketball camp July 10-14 in Massachusetts. Braman learned a variety of skills that transferred over to his senior season with Newfane, from two-hour classroom sessions to expand game-like scenarios to gym sessions and leadership skills.
Braman also learned from the camp how to acknowledge and execute in his scoring spots, leading him to develop a 6-foot floater after having shots fall short in the past. Even with being an undersized guard, the floater has been effective against opponents for Braman this season, resulting in knocking down over 50% of his shots inside, compared to 43% last year.
“I think it just developed from me kind of always being an undersized guard and just knowing I can still get by people and get to the rim,” said Braman, who is averaging 12.4 points per game. “But, sometimes, I couldn’t just go up and finish over people. So, I developed that to where I can just stop and pop one and I’ve worked on it a lot and it’s been pretty automatic this year.”
Since making his varsity debut two years ago, Braman has had a pulse on how Newfane excels offensively. Whether it’s generating steals or as the passer on inbound plays, Braman has contributed to Newfane’s 48-13 record and 30-3 slate in N-O play.
As Braman gained more minutes, his confidence grew, which has slowly spread throughout the entire Newfane locker room with its high production on the court. That’s because Newfane head coach Eric Klumpp only wanted Braman to be himself running the point.
While Klumpp has guided Braman over the last three seasons, including attending the PGC camp, adding different elements to his game has been the guard’s responsibility to execute Newfane’s fast-tempoed offense.
“If we can rebound the ball, get out and transition (and) get him the ball in transition, he spaces it out himself and he knows where everybody’s gone,” Klumpp said. “He either waits for the space to be the offense for him or he allows the pass to be the space and he does a tremendous job of passing it on time and on target where the guys want it.”
After facing Medina Tuesday, Newfane continues its season at 6:30 p.m. Friday versus Roy-Hart and then at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13 at Akron.