When Greensburg native Chris Klimchock was hired to take over the Pitt-Greensburg men’s basketball program in July 2021, the recruiting class for the upcoming season already had been set. The Bobcats finished 10-15 overall and 8-8 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.

Klimchock was able to bring in his first recruiting class for the 2022-23 season, and the group has the look of a solid foundation for the future of the program. Two of them likely will make up UPG’s backcourt for the foreseeable future: Ligonier Valley grad Matthew Marinchak and Deer Lakes grad Armend Karpuzi.

While Marinchak earned a spot in the starting lineup right away — he has started all 19 games he has played — Karpuzi had to prove he was worthy of a bigger role. Karpuzi played as a reserve in the first six games for UPG (10-12, 5-5 through Feb. 4) before getting his big break.

“It’s kind of something he worked himself into as the year went on, in practice and in games,” Klimchock said. “I just think that he gave us a certain energy on both sides of the floor that makes it kind of hard to take him off the court.”

Karpuzi, a 6-foot-3 guard, was given his first start Nov. 27 in a nonconference game against a formidable Hood team that, two weeks earlier, had taken then-Division III No. 1 Randolph-Macon to triple overtime. Karpuzi responded with a season-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting while also contributing three assists and two steals.

Hood came away with an 11-point victory, but Karpuzi showed he belonged.

“He came in confident from the get-go and hasn’t backed down,” Klimchock said.

Said Karpuzi: “First start, everyone’s going to be excited about it no matter what grade or whatever or how long you’ve been here. And I just think with the confidence from everyone else, I hit my first shot, and I was like, ‘Let’s do this.’ ”

He has started every game since, and what his performance has lacked in spectacular, it has more than made up for in steadiness. Karpuzi is averaging 6.2 points in just over 25 minutes per game. He also averages 2.6 rebounds and leads the team with 33 total steals.

Even when he doesn’t score, he finds other ways to contribute. In UPG’s Feb. 4 win over Hilbert that evened its AMCC mark at 5-5, Karpuzi didn’t attempt a field goal but, in 25 minutes, had four rebounds, three assists, a block and two steals.

Klimchock said he always can rely on Karpuzi to do “a little bit of everything.”

“He’s only a freshman, and we’re asking him to guard the (opponent’s) best players and, offensively, do a lot of different things,” Klimchock said. “He’s always up to the task, plays with an edge and competes every single play.”

Perhaps the area where Karpuzi has been at his best is long-range shooting. His 44.4% efficiency (28 of 63) from 3-point range leads the AMCC and would rank among the top 25 in Division III if he had enough attempts to qualify.

Klimchock said that part of his game has exceeded expectations, and he has given Karpuzi the green light to shoot.

Karpuzi, who also leads the team with an .838 mark from the free-throw line (31 of 37), said he has formed a close bond with Marinchak as they have progressed through their freshman season. Their class also includes 6-8 forward Ryan Greggerson from Gateway and Greensburg Salem grad Ben Thomas, like Karpuzi a 6-3 guard. The group, Karpuzi said, has become tight-knit.

“We get along perfectly,” he said. “Me and Matt, we’re always joking around on the court. Me and Ryan, I just love talking to Ryan. When he’s going up (at the rim), I just yell, ‘Dunk it!’ because he’s already there. And me and Benny, we’ve been with each other since junior year (in AAU). With this freshman class, everything has been perfect.”

Marinchak is contributing 9.2 points per game, including 29 in the game against Hood, where he made 9 of 15 3-pointers. That, coupled with Karpuzi’s 20-point effort, gave Klimchock a glimpse of his backcourt of the future.

“Obviously, this is great experience for those guys to be thrown in as freshmen and the minutes they are playing against the level of competitiveness,” Klimchock said. “To adjust to that right away as freshmen, it’s going to lay the foundation for our team of the future.

“We’re asking a lot of them as freshmen, and they’ve been handling it exceptionally well.”

Next up for this promising group of freshmen, not to mention the rest of the team, will be to handle the stretch run.

UPG closes its regular season with games at Mount Aloysius and Penn State Behrend. The Bobcats defeated both of those teams earlier in the season, and if they can replicate those results, it could improve their seeding for the AMCC Tournament.

The top six teams earn spots in the tournament. UPG entered the weekend in a three-way tie for fourth place in the AMCC with Pitt-Bradford and Behrend.

For his part, Karpuzi is confident his team will be able to make its presence known in the postseason.

“We’re getting there. We’ve had our struggles, obviously,” he said. “Every team is going to go through that. But now that it’s come close to crunch time, I think we’re going to pull it off. I think we’re going to be OK.

“With our guys, I trust every one of them. We’ll be OK. We’ll be where we want to be.”

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