Sophomore uses experience to key Knight boys’ basketball team
By: Bob Nuse
br>
Brian Sufalko has been taking a bigger role on the basketball court for West Windsor-Plainsboro North this season.
And it’s not just because of the nearly three inches he’s grown and 20 pounds he’s added to his frame since last year, when he played on the varsity for the Knights.
"He got some good experience last year as a freshman," North coach Eric Becker said of his sophomore point guard, who was the only freshman to play on the varsity for the Knights last year. "It was on-the-job experience for him. This year he’s matured even more. He hit a growth spurt and he worked hard in the off-season.
"He’s a floor general out there as our point guard. He keeps things under control."
Last year it was easy to miss Sufalko on the floor. At 5-foot-4½ and just 115 pounds, he was easily the smallest player on the court every game. But even though he was undersized, Sufalko used the year as a learning experience and he’s shown this year he learned well.
The sophomore is the starting point guard for the Knights, who improved to 4-3 with a 63-50 win over Marlboro on Wednesday night. The four wins give North one more than they had a year ago when the Knights finished 3-20.
"I wasn’t overwhelmed at all," said Sufalko, who had a team-high 15 points, the second straight game he’s led the team in scoring. "I wanted to get into the starting lineup. I worked hard in the off-season and I feel like I got a lot stronger. I grew two-and-a-half inches and put on about 20 pounds. I gained a lot of experience playing last year and I feel like that really helped me.
"I think last year really helped me, especially with the size I was. Now I know the level of play and what to expect. If I didn’t play varsity last year I wouldn’t have had the experience that I have now. I got a lot of minutes last year and that was a good experience for me."
The same is true of all the Knights, who used last year’s first season as a learning experience each night out. Now, they take the court as one of the more experienced teams around and that has shown through the first seven games.
"Everyone on our team got a lot of experience," said Sufalko, who is averaging a shade over nine points a game this season. "Even though we only won three games, we all got some experience playing at this level and that has helped us this year. We’re 4-3 this year and I think the experience we got last year is part of the reason for that."
Following his maiden season of varsity basketball for the Knights, Sufalko played on an AAU team, the Central Jersey Jammers, that went to the national tournament in Tennessee. At this stage in his career, he’s always looking for ways to improve.
"The thing that I like is that he’s worked on all parts of his game," said Becker, whose team will host Steinert 1 p.m. Saturday in search of its fifth win. "He’s worked on his shooting and his defense. And he’s also working on rebounding and being a complete player. He’s been getting a couple of rebounds a game.
"He’s got a great attitude. He takes it seriously, but at the same time he has a lot of fun with it."
All the Knights seem to be having fun this year. Winning surely helps in that regard. But so does the added confidence that comes with already have a year of experience at the varsity level.
"It’s different this year because I’m just playing on the varsity and not any JV," said Sufalko, who played at both levels last year. "I’ve been put in a starting role and there is a lot more on my shoulders that last year when I was more of a role player. I’m trying to lead a lot more than I did last year.
"I just went out and tried to do the best that I could do. I wanted to play varsity, but at the beginning I didn’t think they were looking at the younger classes to do that since we didn’t have any seniors last year."
This year the Knights have seniors. But it’s also clear that one of their leaders is a sophomore who continues to grow all the time.
"He looks at basketball as a sport to play year-round," said Becker, whose team will play Hopewell Valley at the Continental Airlines Arena on Tuesday afternoon prior to the New Jersey Nets-Miami Heat game. "He respects the game and as a coach you can’t ask for any more than that. He’s a fierce competitor. He also knows he has to work on things to continue to improve and he’s always willing to do that.
"He’s not the biggest kid out there, but he makes up for it with tremendous court savvy. Plus, he’s a good student and we emphasize that as a coaching staff."