Redbirds lose another close one to Lawrence
Hoped to bounce back last night against West Windsor North
MARIE ORTIZ Allentown’s Kelly Allen (No. 25) tries to get a hand in the face of Lawrence’s Tashema Whittaker during a game in Allentown on Friday eventually won by Lawrence.
Young teams don’t win too many close games. The ability to not only hit the big shot, but to put yourself in the position to take the big shot is something that players learn over time.
So when you examine the Allentown boys basketball team, and their rather dismal 1-9 record, keep in mind that the team is better than its record indicates.
And keep in mind that there’s a pretty bright future ahead for the Redbirds.
"Our record indicates that we’ve been pretty lousy, but if you look beyond the wins and losses you see that we’re improving," said Head Coach Brian Fifield. "We’ve been in a lot of games; we just can’t seem to put teams away."
The Redbirds are coming off a game on Friday which illustrates the third-year coach’s point.
Allentown played well through three quarters and were tied with a good Lawrence team heading into the final stanza.
But from there, the results were all too familiar for Fifield.
"Going into the fourth, we were playing well and were in good position to steal one from Lawrence," he said. "But then we got in some foul trouble, and had a few defensive lapses that let them pull away. They had a kid come off the bench and hit about five threes and that basically killed us.
"I don’t know if that kid had any threes the whole season, but he hit them against us when it mattered," the coach added. "Those are the kind of things that happen when you’re struggling though. We’re just going to keep playing hard, and hopefully some of those breaks will come our way in the future."
But Fifield saw some good things from his team, and is proud of the way they are developing as individual players.
"I think the guys are learning that they’re capable of doing a lot more than they thought they could," he said. "We’re still learning so much, but defensively the guys are doing a real nice job and that’s keeping us in games."
The Lawrence game was just one of several close games the Redbirds have found themselves in lately.
In a recent loss to Hopewell Valley, Allentown forced the game into overtime before finally succumbing to the Bulldogs.
That loss marked the third time Allentown forced an overtime, and was also the third time they lost in overtime.
According to Fifield, it has been a frustrating process.
"When you’re a young team, it’s tough to win those close games," he said. "When we lost to Ewing, who was 7-1 coming into the game, we were up by seven going into the fourth. But again, we just couldn’t put them away."
When Fifield talks about his team being young, there’s a certain optimism in his voice, because he envisions a bright future for his program.
"We only start one senior, which means we have four young guys getting valuable varsity experience with each game," the Coach said. "They really are learning a lot, and are beginning to see how they can compete at this level."
Forward Paul Buszko is the lone senior among the starting five, and has performed well as the team’s leader, scoring about 16 points per game.
"Paul has played well for us all year and is a real leader on the floor," Fifield said.
The remainder of the frontcourt consists of junior forwards James and David Petersen, a duo that Fifield said is improving their all-around play with each game.
Ron Gonzalez and Charles Rini, a pair of sophomores, have been handling the backcourt duties and have done an admirable job running the offense.
In addition, the Redbirds have some more experience coming off the bench in seniors Matt Krantz, Bill Wiedman and Harold Mann.
But it’s the future of the program that has Fifield excited.
"We have three freshmen playing at the jayvee level, and very good freshman and jayvee teams," he said. "We’re confident that Allentown will have some good basketball teams in the next few years."
But for now, the Redbirds will have to be content going through the learning process, while hoping to pick up some wins along the way.
They have 12 games remaining on their schedule, starting with last night’s game against West Windsor North.
Fifield was confident going into the game, and saw it as a good opportunity for his team to notch a win.
"They’re kind of in the same boat as us, with a lot of young guys," he said. "But they’ve been playing very well lately so we’ll have to match their play to have a shot at beating them."
From there, Allentown will host Steinart on Friday (7 p.m.) and will travel to North Burlington on Monday (5:15 p.m.).
The rest of the schedule includes a bunch of teams that have already handed the Redbirds defeats earlier in the year. But Fifield is hoping they’ll find an improved team this time around.
And with a bright future ahead of them, the Redbirds will continue to go through their growing pains. You’ve got to learn the game before you can win the game.