It takes a lot to simply make it as a Division I basketball player, and even more to find success. Just as important as natural athleticism is the ability to endure setbacks and bounce back stronger. Emporium’s Nate Sestina has shown that quality as a sophomore at Bucknell University.
Sestina was a standout player at Cameron County, earning numerous accolades including Big 30 and North Tier Player of the Year and District 9 Co-Player of the Year. His commitment to Bucknell also made him the first Red Raider to play DI since the 1970s.
But before his college career could truly begin, a shoulder injury cut short his freshman campaign, limiting Sestina to only four games. Missing essentially the entirety of his first college season left Sestina in a situation he had never faced before: not being able to play.
“IT KIND of put a damper on things,” Sestina said. “It really hurt me personally to know that I couldn’t play, and I haven’t ever been able to not play.”
He put all of his effort into his rehab and conditioning, focusing on shooting, footwork, and trimming down some of his weight.
That work has paid big dividends early this season, both for Sestina and for the Bison as a team. Entering the Christmas break Bucknell is 8-5 and the 6-foot-8 center/forward has been a key contributor in his first full season.
Coming off the bench, he has appeared in all 13 games, averaging 13 minutes, six points and four rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the field. Despite seeing less playing time than at any point in his career, Sestina has shown he hasn’t lost the scoring touch that gave him the chance to play DI ball.
This was most evident against some of the best competition in the country. In just its second game of the season, Bucknell faced Wake Forest, a program that has produced the likes of NBA greats Tim Duncan and Chris Paul. While the Bison fell to the Demon Deacons 94-74, Sestina had the best performance of his young college career, scoring 12 points in 12 minutes against some of the best athletes in the country.
“Ever since I was little I’ve just had this thing for putting the ball in the hoop,” Sestina said. “I’ve always been bigger than everybody, so going against a school like that in the second game of the year was a good test.”
While Sestina has already found a degree of success, going through a college season for the first time has also showed him just how far he has to go to show he belongs.
“In high school, as bad as it sounds, I was able to take a possession off if I was tired,” Sestina said. “I didn’t have to be help side every single time. I was always big enough or athletic enough to go up and block a shot and be on the opposite side of the rim. In college, everybody’s fast, everybody’s better than you. That’s how you have to look at it. If you get complacent, that’s when everything goes downhill.”
Even though Bucknell isn’t the biggest Division I program, making the transition from a small school like Cameron County to any DI school is significant.
“Being in my first year, playing under game lights, you get game legs, you get nervous,” Sestina said. “But I’m here for a reason. I need to know that, and I do, it’s just kind of crazy how you go from playing at a gym in Cameron County to playing in front of 5,000 people each night.”
Sestina credits his teammates with helping him adjust to the day-to-day aspects of college life. Bucknell’s roster shows players from Virginia, California and even Canada. What Sestina finds incredible is how well players from such different backgrounds can come together and play the same style of basketball so effortlessly.
He points to one of his roommates, Matt O’Reilly, a fellow sophomore who was high school teammates with Josh Jackson, currently a freshman at Kansas who was considered one of the best players in the country coming out of highly-regarded Prolific Prep Academy in California.
“It’s kind of crazy how Matt’s style of play is interconnected with mine,” Sestina said, “where I’ve played against smaller schools and smaller players and Matt played against the best competition in the country every day.”
With the holiday break, Sestina is looking forward to being home for the first time this season, though he makes a point to keep in touch with his parents and four older brothers and sisters.
“They’re the most important people in my life and I try my best to talk to them each and every day,” he said.
“Growing up, they made sure I never got complacent. You can’t settle and be like, ‘Yeah, I’m fine with this.’”
Bucknell opens its conference schedule in the Patriot League on Dec. 30 versus Navy and if the first portion of the season is any indication, Sestina will be an important piece moving forward.
