Oakville Senior Tandem Key to Program's Rise

Good teams need many good things to happen to go from being a solid team to a superior one. Talented players, passionate coaching, team chemistry and even luck are all common components of successful programs, with high school basketball being no exception.

The Oakville Tigers have been blessed with many of the elements necessary to grow their program into one of significant stature, not only around St. Louis, but at the state level. An important piece of this puzzle has been the emergence of two teammates, who have developed into co-leaders as the Tigers have posted back-to-back trips to the state championship semifinals.

On a recent Friday night in the Oakville High School gymnasium, with both sides of the stands singing and chanting in support of their basketball team as it fought to pull out a slim win over visiting Riverview Gardens, one might have missed the impact of Javier Duren and Danny Zehner, as a combination.

The two players worked together almost effortlessly to shore up each other’s roles in the game. They were shouting out instructions to one another, rearranging their defensive positioning, and watching their teammates to see where adjustments should be made.

The fluid coordination of these two is not incidental. They joined the varsity squad one year apart, with Duren beginning as a freshman and Zehner as a sophomore. But their experience playing together goes back to junior high and participating in summer leagues.

Over the years they’ve learned they’re most effective when working opposite sides of the court.

“Coach (Nick Traxler) knows, and we believe we need to coordinate from different sides of the court, so when one of us is penetrating the other is taking up a position from the outside, and as long as we work together like that we see success,” said Duren.

Duren, who is headed to Yale next year, leads the team in scoring, averaging 17 points per game and in steals (36), while Zehner is averaging 13.8 points and leads the team in 3-pointers with 25.

Aside from their technical playmaking efforts, both players gain inspiration from the results of the other.

“I just get fired up if I see Javier make a big play. If he makes a great shot I’m fired up to try and do the same,” said Zehner, who is contemplating playing for Webster University next year.

This mutual motivation makes the players effective leaders. They both take responsibility for guiding the team, especially at this time of year when the schedule begins to wear on the squad and the district playoffs loom.

“Now is the time of year when fatigue can really break down the team, not just physically but mentally as well … there are more pressure situations to deal with and we have to help each other and our teammates to stay focused on our goals,” said Duren.

“Coach took us aside before the season kicked off and made sure we knew the team would depend on us for leadership,” added Zehner.

Leadership sometimes comes in the form of helping each other stay cool under pressure, as when Oakville played McCluer North earlier in the season. B.J. Young, who was recently suspended for numerous ejections, got under the skin of Duren and help was needed to maintain the peace.

“Javier usually keeps his cool but when he and BJ got into it I went over to make sure the situation didn’t get out of hand, just kind of walked Javier away from the issue and helped him keep things under control,” recalled Zehner.

Behind the efforts of these two seniors Oakville has grown significantly as a program. Though both Duren and Zehner recognize their impact, they hope, with district and state finals approaching, to have one more shot at contributing to their legacy.

Oakville (11-8, 3-0) plays at Fox (6-12, 0-4) on Friday night at 7 p.m in a Suburban West Conference matchup.