New Paltz High School Basketball Honored by Daily Freeman

New Paltz High School boys varsity basketball star Cayden Dones and head coach Daniel Diklich were named Freeman Basketball Player and Coach of the year for the 2024-2025 basketball season.  

“Ever since high school [winning the award has] been a big goal, one of my bigger goals, besides winning sections and MLS,” Dones said.

The honors followed a dominant season from both Dones and rest of the team. The point guard lead the Huguenots to a 21-3 record, at one point winning 19 straight games and averaged a team high 24.8 points along with 7.3 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game, as the team secured the best regular season record in section IX.  

In the post season, the Huguenots grabbed their first Mid-Hudson Athletic League and Section 9 Class A championships since the 2019-2020 season, defeating defending champions the Saugerties Sawyers in a 66 – 43 win at Mount Saint Mary College on March 7.

Following that victory, the team faced Section 1’s Byram Hills in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament and lost 73-53.  

“We played really well as a team.” Dones said. “It wasn’t just like one player, two players, three players it was a whole team effort.” 

Despite the successful season and honors, both Dones and Diklich are already looking at their 2025 – 2026 campaign, and they are setting their sights even higher than this year.  

“I think we still got a lot to prove,” Dones said. His coach agreed. “It’s nice to be awarded,” he said. “But we’re here to win championships, and we did that this year…we’re hungry still. I know we just won it, but we want more. We want to win more next year.”  

The team has never won a game outside of sectionals, and though the team will lose two of its senior players next year both Dones and Diklich think it can happen in the upcoming season. “It’s a big loss, but I think everybody else coming back bigger and stronger and another year older, next year [is] going to be big for us,” Diklich said.

Next year Dones will also be playing his final season for the team and, having already scored 1,320 points, he will have the opportunity to break the all-time New Paltz scoring record and possibly crack the 2,000-point mark.  

Dones said he is focused on improving his game during the offseason. “I just [want to] become better overall,” he said. “Get a lot stronger, keep getting my jump shot better and become a better leader. Get [my teammates] in gym together as much as possible.

His coach agreed, adding “It starts in the offseason. It starts now. The season is seven months away, which seems like so long, but before you know it, it will be October and we’re a month out,” Diklich said.