By: John Powers
The South Hunterdon Regional High School boys basketball team has reached the point where the Eagles need to rely on some pride to change things.
South fell to unbeaten Delaware Valley 73-35 last week before dropping a 50-40 decision to Hackettstown. The Eagles are now 1-9 and have lost six straight with games against North Warren, Somerville and New Hope this week.
The Eagles were scheduled to play at North Warren Tuesday night, then host Somerville Friday night and play at New Hope Saturday night.
"The coaches have wanted to see how we react to tough situations and games," senior forward Pat Durborow said. "We have to go into games like Somerville with our heads up. The last time we played them, it was embarrassing. We have to think that we can compete with these teams."
Durborow said he was encouraged by the way the Eagles competed at Hackettstown Friday night. The Eagles had to play without head coach Frank Schemerhorn who had to sit out both games last week because of having committed two technical fouls in a game with Belvidere Jan. 7 and senior guard Jesse Fennimore, out with the flu.
Because junior guard Kyle Davis, Fennimore’s back-up, got into foul trouble early, the Eagles went to freshmen Kyle Hart and Tony Danese in the backcourt.
"It’s a great atmosphere up there, and I think the kids fed off that in the positive," Schermerhorn said. "We hung around, and we really competed. You do with what you have, and our kids responded."
Durborow was the leading scorer, scoring a game-high 19. Tommy Molnar had six.
"We held Hackettstown to 45 the first time around, and that’s the kind of game we have to play," Schermerhorn said. "The kids could have rolled over. Our job as coaches is to keep the kids up. Hackettstown is a tough place to play, and the kids could have been overwhelmed, but they weren’t."
Delaware Valley was simply a more talented team. The Terriers beat West Windsor-Plainsboro North 103-74 Saturday to improve their record to 11-0. The Terriers connected on 10 3-pointers in the win against North. Delaware Valley led South 40-13 at halftime.
"Delaware Valley has three kids who can really knock down the shots," Schemerhorn said. "We had to guard them on the perimeter. Our kids competed for 32 minutes. We were simply outmanned."
