Justin Stern has been named as the new men’s basketball coach at Keystone College, replacing Andrew Kettel, who resigned.
Stern comes to Keystone following a second stint as men’s basketball coach at Oswego State in New York.
“He comes to us with a strong background in Division III basketball and a clear understanding of what it takes to build a successful, student-centered program,” athletic director Kacy Manning said, according to a story on the school’s athletic website.
Oswego State was 13-5 in the State University of New York Athletic Conference and 17-9 overall.
Stern coached at Morrisville State the previous season. He was head coach at Cazenovia College 2016-2023, leading his team to three National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Tournament appearances. Stern was also on the coaching staff for two national tournament appearances in his first time at Oswego State.
Stern played on an undefeated state championship team at Jamesville-DeWitt High School and was an assistant there for two more state championship seasons. He played two years each at Onondaga Community College and Keuka College.
Baseball
Keystone finished 37-11 with a United East Championship and two wins in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The conference championship was the 20th straight for the Giants and the second since the formation of the UEC.
Andy Rivas was named conference Most Valuable Players and received All-American recognition from both D3baseball.com and ABCA/Rawlings.
Rivas was a second-team choice by D3baseball.com and third-teamer, according to ABCA/Rawlings, as a catcher.
Rivas ranked 14th in the nation among Division III players with a .441 batting averages. He was 10th in slugging percentage at .838 and also 14th in RBI with 62. He led the UEC with 13 home runs.
Keystone went 2-2 in the Granville Regional hosted by second-ranked Denison University.
The Giants beat Penn State Behrend 13-1 and 11-5, but lost to Denison following each of those wins. The first loss was 10-4 and the season ended with a 13-2 loss May 18.
Rivas had two hits and four RBI in the first win over Penn State Behrend.
Griffin Yastremski got the offense started in the second NCAA win with a two-run homer in the second inning. Nate Ewing and Cooper Fesh each had two hits and drove in three runs.
Sean Brennan was named UEC Pitcher of the Year and joined Rivas as first-team All-Region 4 selections by ABCA/Rawlings. He was 9-1 with a 3.26 earned run average in 13 starts and had a 72-25, strikeout-walk ratio.
