Moesch Commits to Siena
At the start of the last week, Cushing Academy and Middlesex Magic point guard Ryan Moesch announced his commitment to Siena University.
Moesch, a top-ranked recruit in the New England class of 2026 and in the national rankings, was a coveted guard who has continued to elevate his game.
Before the spotlight, the rankings, and the SLAM Magazine mixtapes, Moesch started his career at Chittenango High School, a public school in a small Central New York town. It was there that the energetic guard really started to make a name for himself.
Playing alongside his older brother, Alex, who currently plays at Hobart, Ryan was an immediate impact player as a freshman. The Moesch brothers helped lead Chittenango to its first Sectional title in 45 years, as the two consistently produced and pumped out wins for the program.
From there, the future Siena Saint would put together what is likely the best three-year career anyone has seen in Upstate New York. He finished his junior year in his hometown as one of the top scorers in the nation, averaging north of 37 points per game.
In that season alone, Moesch had multiple 50-point outings, making things look flat-out easy at times, and definitely playing himself into more college looks.
On March 12th, 2024, the Chittenango native announced his commitment to reclass into the class of 2026 and join James Cormier’s NEPSAC AA powerhouse at Cushing Academy.
Heading into his first season at Cushing, Moesch became a face of the Hoop Group Showcase League, playing for the Crown Basketball program out of the NYC area. In the few months of grassroots live periods and scholastic live periods, his first action with Cushing, Moesch would pick up offers from the likes of Manhattan, Gardner-Webb, Stonehill, Marist, George Mason, and Towson.
He would go on to finish his grassroots career with the Middlesex Magic, serving as the team’s point guard this past spring/summer as they made a strong run in the UAA bracket once again.
With his impending debut with Cushing in the fall of 2024, college coaches were undoubtedly impressed with the twitchy guard. Still, some questioned the level of Division 1 basketball that he could play at with his lack of size in the changing college landscape that tends to favor bigger, stronger, and older players.
It didn’t take long for those questions to be answered, however, as Moesch came in and went to work as the catalyst of the Cushing Penguins in their sensational 2024-25 season.
To start the season at the NEBL, Moesch came up big, helping Cushing open up the season 2-0 with wins over Brewster’s Prep team and CATS Academy in a 72-70 thriller. His ability to flawlessly navigate the floor with quickness, pace, and vision to snap passes truly changed the game, becoming a theme for the season for Cushing.
As the season went on, Cushing put together quite a resume with Moesch running the show: 26-6 season record, NEBL Champions, #1 Seed in the NEPSAC AA postseason tournament, and semifinalists in the National Prep Championship Tournament.
While the NEPSAC season ended earlier than the Penguins had hoped, falling to the eventual champions at Worcester Academy, Moesch and the Cushing team came into the National Prep Championship tournament on a quick turnaround with a chip on their shoulder.
With Moesch leading the way, Cushing pulled out big wins over the Spire Academy Postgrad team and the New Hampton School.
In a highly-contested semifinal battle with St. Thomas More, Cushing ended up losing on a dramatic three-pointer from Alabama signee London Jemison.
A painful way to go out, Moesch took a moment to tell me how that loss is fueling him and the team this season: “It definitely made us tougher. It hurts to lose in that fashion, but we know we were good enough to win that game,” said Moesch.
“We’ll definitely be bringing all of that energy from the loss of that game into this season, and look to make it as good as we can.”
After having a look at the newly assembled 2025-26 version of the Penguins, I can definitely see the reasons for optimism as the incoming players from both in and out of the region will add a spark to an already very talented core.
To finish things off, I asked Moesch to give me more insight into his commitment to Siena and what led him to make the final decision.
Here’s what he had to say: “I would definitely say the coaching staff recruited me the hardest out of all of the programs I was in contact with. I really like the vision they have for me, and the trust GMac (Head Coach Gerry McNamara) has shown in me throughout the recruiting process, and my coaches, my mentors, my agents all thought it would be the best fit for me.”
Siena University is also only about a two-hour drive from his hometown of Chittenango, so you can expect to see some Moesch representation in the crowd at MVP Arena.
Moesch quickly touched upon some goals for this upcoming season as well, and the feeling of locking in his recruitment: “It definitely feels relieving (to be done with the recruitment process)... I’m excited to come play this year for a championship, and get the best we can out of the team we have.”
One of the toughest defensive assignments you will find, Moesch will cap off a historic high school career this season. If you have not had the chance to watch him play, take advantage of the opportunity now before he moves on to college!
Ryan Moesch
London Jemison