After help­ing lead last year’s Bulldogs to a GLIAC Championship title and the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA D-II Tournament, senior Dontae Molden wants to repeat last year’s performance.

Molden is faced with the chal­lenge of uti­liz­ing a team that lost four starters from last sea­son. This year’s team will have to make it to the GLIAC Championships with­out last season’s GLIAC Player of the Year Justin Keenan who led last year’s Bulldogs in scoring.

“It’s a com­plete turn around, I was with those guys for three years,” Molden said. “Now I just have to step up and fill in their shoes. There’s two peo­ple who can’t have bad prac­tices this year and that’s me and Coach Sall.”

Molden acknowl­edged that it would be hard to accept any­thing less but another GLIAC Championship this year because he wants another one.

“Now I see after play­ing Michigan State that we have what it takes to be that team again,” Molden said. “Once we get some con­sis­tency down, there’s no other option.”

Molden believes this year’s team has more options on offense. As the start­ing point guard of this team, Molden likes being able to have con­fi­dence in every player’s offen­sive abil­i­ties on the court.

“This year we won’t rely so much on one per­son, but instead have every­body step up and have con­fi­dence,” Molden said. “This year I feel we can be a more ver­sa­tile team.”

Last sea­son taught Molden a lot about the game of bas­ket­ball and now he will have the respon­si­bil­ity to help teach eight fresh­men. Freshman guard Dietrich Lever will be Molden’s under­study for this year, as Lever will be Molden’s back-up point guard for the season.

“Dontae is a great leader,” said senior Jerrel Sanders. “He does a good job of lead­ing, espe­cially with a young team. We know he’s going to show up to prac­tice ready to work every­day and every­body just fol­lows suit.”

Before Molden’s career as a Bulldog comes to an end, he hopes to break the top three for leader’s in assists for the his­tory of the Bulldog’s bas­ket­ball pro­gram. Improving his shoot­ing per­cent­age and main­tain­ing defen­sive inten­sity while lead­ing this year’s Bulldog team are also pri­or­i­ties for Molden.

Molden was given the nick­name Jamaal Tinsley when Molden first started play­ing bas­ket­ball in sev­enth grade because he was so effec­tive at playmaking.

Without his Father, Molden may not have got­ten to where he is today. His father coached him when he first started play­ing in the Amateur Athletic Union. Molden attrib­uted the way he learned to lead from the way his father led.