Veteran boys squad makes itself stronger

By: David Gurney
   It really doesn’t get much better than 22-6, especially for a high school team. Second place in the Red Division, a trip to the Greater Middlesex Conference quarterfinals and a trip to the state sectional finals, all fine achievements.
   But for the South Brunswick boys basketball team heading into its season opener Friday against St. Joseph’s of Metuchen, the most critical area of improvement from last year to this year doesn’t revolve around the numbers game, it will revolve around the end game. Strength and conditioning were areas of concern last season as the team tired down the stretch, bowing out earlier than expected in the GMCT and falling in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV tournament.
   According to head coach Chris Balent, those two areas were amongst the first to be addressed in the offseason.
   "We really have a dedicated group that was committed this offseason," Balent said. "Weight lifting, workouts, I don’t know if you can pick one or two guys out, everyone worked hard. The issues that hindered us last year, we’ve taken care of with conditioning and strength. We need to get a little quicker, jump a littler higher."
   Many of the players expected to get a little quicker, jump a little higher are, luckily for Balent, returnees from last year’s squad. The team has lost only a handful of contributors, including Tommy Hill and Nick Fazio, but returns the majority of last year’s roster, including senior leaders Martin and Malcolm Soaries, Devon Young and Ray Dasant.
   Those four are last year’s highest returning scorers and will be counted on to shoulder much of the offensive load.
   "So many guys played significant minutes last year that are returning, it helps me out," Balent said. "A lot of guys are playing well in scrimmages like the seniors, they’ve stepped up."
   Seven of the team’s 12 players are seniors, giving the notion that inexperience will almost never be a factor.
   The other upperclassmen returning are seniors Vineesh Manchanda, Brian Morgan and Mike Sobers, while juniors Arman Wilson, Troy Confessore, Sean Lease and Jordan Teicher will expect to see minutes along the way.
   Sophomore Mohammed Sanu, quarterback of the football team, rounds out the 12-player squad.
   Though most of the lineup goes 6-2 and smaller, the Vikings will rely much on dictating tempo and often speeding the game up. There’s a reason conditioning was a key component of the offseason workout.
   "We don’t have a lot of height, I think in some ways there just isn’t a lot of height in the county," Balent said. "We have to address our lack of height in other ways, like pressuring the basketball and quickening things up.
   "We want to run through our halfcourt sets when we have to, but we won’t mind getting out in transition and getting some early baskets,"
   Balent, still in only his second season as a head coach at the scholastic level, is still learning on the job. He admits it’s been a tough adjustment and the change has been steeper going from a career assistant coach to the head coaches’ role.
   "It’s a different game, the college game and the high school game," Balent said. "Two different things, it took me a little while to learn strengths and weaknesses of players, but also it’s been a tough adjustment of being assistant coach to head coach.
   "The relationships you have as an assistant are different than as a head coach with players and there’s probably, in some ways, a little more freedom offensively in college. But here you can be more structured with your team."