By: Sean Moylan
Last season the terrific trio of Sam McDuffie, Jon Kohler and Danny Sasso propelled the Bordentown boys’ varsity basketball team back into the playoffs and thrilled the Scotties fans to no end. While Sasso, Bordentown’s all-time leading three-point shooter graduated, McDuffie and Kohler have returned this season and they have a talented new playing partner in Donnell Hayden, a junior center.
Of course, McDuffie will be the key. A senior forward, McDuffie was one of the top scorers in Burlington County last season with a 25.9 average, and there’s no reason to believe he wont light up the scoreboard again this season.
"It looks like he’s (McDuffie) improved his jumper," added Mark Drew, the Scotties sensational longtime head coach. Kohler came in as a freshman point guard last year and dominated games with his ball handling, his passing and his shooting. He had 57 three-pointers last season. This year he expects to be even better.
While, Hayden, a transfer student from Palmyra, may seem small for a center at 6 feet 2 inches tall, he has a wide body that’s perfect for rebounding. He may also be the inside scorer that Bordentown has been looking for in recent years. Drew, for one, is amazed by the way Hayden moves for a big man. He’s just a tremendous addition to the club.
Justin Gaines, a senior forward, is Bordentown’s most improved player. Fast and tough, Gaines can do a little bit of everything on the basketball court.
Brandon Fraser, a senior guard, has the potential to be a fantastic defender and good all-around player. This year defense will be a priority for the Scotties, who had no trouble putting points on the scoreboard last season. The Scotties only apparent weakness as a team is that they’re not deep. And yet, Myron Pickett (a junior forward), Chris Mallett (a junior guard), Tyrone Johnson (a junior guard-small forward), Danny Welch (a senior center) Matt Raynor (a junior center) and Chris Papp (a junior center) are all expecting to get plenty of varsity minutes this season and all have the potential to be good varsity basketball players. Bordentown hasn’t had this kind of talent in the front court since the days of Prather, Tucker and West (who was sometimes used as a small forward). The club is athletic enough to play man-to-man defense this year.
Drew wants his guys to be consistent and all on the same page. Yet he and his assistants, Kevin Wright and Colin Haines, are pleased with the club’s play in scrimmages and practices.
"I think we all like the team," added Drew, whose exciting club should return to the playoffs barring an injury to one of key players.
Bordentown is scheduled to open the season at Cinnaminson on Friday.
BRHS
The Florence Township Memorial High School boys’ varsity basketball team graduated four starters off of last year’s Central Jersey Group I Championship team, including superstars Matt Ordog and Maurice Calhoun.
Yet there are three big reasons, right off the bat, to believe the Flashes can be a playoff team can once again this season. The biggest of those reasons is Hall of Fame basketball coach Art Bobik has returned for his 28th year for the Flashes. A master at teaching defense and the back door play, Bobik always gets the most out of his talent. Yet even he knows this season will be his biggest challenge in years.
"I’ve had an Ordog (Steve and then Matt) at point guard the last five years. That’s why I’ve been so successful," said a modest Bobik. "This year we’re young with not much experience."
Florence’s most experienced player, senior forward Abree "Mr. Defense" Jones, has been nursing an ankle injury he suffered during Florence’s state championship football game a couple of weeks ago, and he has only recently began to practice with the team. Yet once he gets back in the flow of things, he could dominate on both ends of the court.
The third reason to believe in the Flashes is junior Malcolm Jenkins. Jenkins is a powerfully built 6 foot 3 inch center. He has given every indication that he will raise his game to the star level this season.
Of course, every year the Flashes seem to come up with some pleasant surprises. In fact, last year Jeff Erlston and Chris Giambrone went from being role players to becoming stellar starters. This season, Florence has several candidates for the final three starting spots. Leading that list will be freshman guard Chris Thompson, sophomore guard Quentin Loftin, sophomore guard Steve Giambrone and junior center-forward Jim Karwacki.
Seniors Pat Hollern and Cody Vogel and sophomore Brandon Youngblood will also battle for playing time. Bobik may also add a player or two to his roster in the coming weeks.
"This is like mission impossible," laughed Bobik, who needs time to teach his young players about the art of positioning, boxing out and getting back on defense. "It’s a big challenge. The problem I’ve had is with practice time."
Because Florence’s great football team advanced so far in the playoffs again, Bobik didn’t get most of his athletes from that squad until late last week. This year Bobik will also be without the services of his great assistant coach of many years, Steve Ordog. Ordog has been coaching football and basketball for so long that he just needed a break. However, Steve Borota, a former star athlete at Florence, has returned to help coach the squad.
"If we make the playoffs I’d be ecstatic," said the man with three state titles to his credit.
Bobik has a way of doing the impossible, and even without Matt Ordog, who is currently playing basketball at Mulhenburg, Florence will probably make the playoffs if it gets in enough practice time.
Florence is scheduled open its season at Maple Shade on Friday and at Westampton Tech on Monday.
LCA
After several false starts, the Life Center Academy boys’ varsity basketball team finally played its first game on Monday and it crushed Plumstead Academy, 86-33. Steve Perry, who has a great touch from the outside, scored 16 points for the victors while Michael Lesicky chipped in with a dozen points. Daniel Ilavsky, Mislav Jukic and Abraham Ramos all reached double figures with 10 points apiece as Billy Rhoades finally got his first official win as the Warriors’ head coach. The game was played on the road.
Life Center Academy is scheduled to host Saint Mary’s Hall today (Thursday). It is scheduled at the Hun School on Saturday and on Tuesday it is scheduled to host American Christian.
NBC
This season the Northern Burlington County Regional High School boys’ varsity basketball squad will be looking to its back court to lead it back to the playoffs.
"The real strength of our basketball team is going to be our guard play," said NBC head coach Herman Johnson, who’ll be looking for senior shooting guard Jerry Howell and senior point guard Danny Zimplemann to both have huge years. "Our main objective is to get back in the states. Last year was a down year (6-16) for us. This year we have to figure out how to get nine wins (before the state cutoff date) playing an unbelievable schedule.
Howell will surely help. A three-year varsity standout, Howell averaged over 14 points a game and was NBC’s best and most consistent player last season.
Zimplemann, a returning starter who averaged roughly 8.5 points a game last season, played extremely well in summer basketball leagues. His role on the team will definitely be more prominent this season.
Three-point specialist Keith Jones, a junior, is another NBC guard to keep an eye on.
"The x-factor is the return of Keith Jones. He’s been a pleasant surprise since he’s come back and he’s grown up in terms of being a leader. He’s a very good defensive player that can only get better," remarked Johnson, who believes that Jones is the type of player who can make the players around him better. "We have the chance to be a very good team, 500 or better. A lot will depend on our ability to defend."
But the Greyhounds will also need to get solid play out of their front court in order to pick up wins.
Zak Sotomayor, a 6 foot 5 inch junior center, could be the answer to solving a lot of NBC’s problems, but he has to stay healthy.
"He (Sotomayer) was having a fantastic summer (playing basketball) right up until the time he broke his ankle," said Johnson, who believes Sotomayor will be a key contributor on this year’s squad.
Darryl Melvin, a forward who is entering his fourth season with the program, is a strong rebounder who’ll be expected to offer his teammates senior leadership. Senior Gary Soso should also get plenty of playing time as either a 3 or a 4.
"Soso is really athletic and can get off the floor. He’s a tremendous offensive rebounder," said Johnson.
Juniors forwards Marc Lang and Ryan Gause should really help out in the front court too. Gause is a great shooter and Lang is a good team leader. 6 foot 3 inch junior guard Paul Urbish is a tremendous player on the wing. Others like senior guard Will Ethington will surely help out but the Greyhounds primary rotation will consist of the aforementioned players.
"This year my assistant will be John Carson. He brings with him a wealth of experience," added Johnson. Joe Washington will coach the junior varsity squad. While some of NBC’s former players decided not to come out this season, the ones that did come out are pure basketball players.
"I like this team. The attitude is good and these guys seem to like each other," Johnson remarked. "We’ll go as far as our guards will carry us but we need our front court to contribute too. I’m optimistic this year."
Last year everything went wrong that could go wrong. That shouldn’t happen this season so look for NBC to get back into the playoffs despite its brutal schedule. NBC is scheduled to host Pemberton on Friday and Lenape on Saturday. NBC is scheduled at Delran on Tuesday.

