Slow start kept team out of states
By: Shawn Tyrrell
If there was one theme of the Manville High boys’ basketball 2006-07 season, it was that it took just a bit too long for the team to put it all together.
Once the players figured out what they needed to do to win, it was obvious that what ended up being just an average year at 8-13, had the potential to have been so much more.
Following a 2005-06 season that saw MHS post a 4-17 record, Manville head coach Larry Blasi had to be confident that his squad would be improved this year for a couple of reasons. The entire team was expected to return, and the Mustangs would be moving into to what many believed would be a somewhat more equal conference.
As most have learned, things often don’t turn out the way they should. MHS demonstrated that by having several seniors and starting players from the previous year opt to not to come out, and then change their minds. This affected the early conditioning and chemistry of the team and did not allow the Mustangs to be ready for the start of the campaign.
"It seemed that with the success of the football team the players didn’t get into the mode of basketball until January," Blasi said. "Once they decided to devote themselves to playing basketball, they came together and played the type of ball I thought they were capable of."
"Before the season started I really felt we should be over .500 and qualify for the state tournament. Early injuries, illnesses and players’ indecisiveness about playing had a big effect on the way we started out," Blasi added.
Senior Mike Knitowski, who finished his basketball career with 975 total points, echoed coach Blasi’s sentiment.
"It did affect the team in a lot ways," Knitowski said. "The younger players were working hard and when they heard these other guys were coming back, they got worried they would lose everything. Even though it took a while, it was very helpful to have those guys come back out."
Manville lost its first eight games. After that, the Mustangs went 8-5 to close the year on a high note.
"We never expected to be a 0-8 to start the season," Knitowski said. "We were in just about every game, but a bad half or quarter really cost us."
The Mustangs opened the season with an 81-63 loss at Bound Brook. They then dropped contests to North Plainfield (65-52), Gill St. Bernards (57-32), North Warren (68-52) and then lost games to Dunellen (63-46) and Bound Brook (66-46) in the Holiday Tournament. MHS also went winless two games into January with tough losses to Delaware Valley (60-49) and South Hunterdon (62-55).
Aside from the Gill St. Bernards loss, the Mustangs were in every game and had chances to win in all of them.
"Those early losses were disappointing," Blasi said. "We can’t make excuses for what team shows up. Certain days the other team played better and we couldn’t rise to the occasion when we needed to."
Things started to change for the Mustangs when they rallied to beat a quality Belvidere team at home 57-51, then followed up two nights later with another upset beating Somerset County Vo-Tech 61-51.
Against the County Seaters, MHS had four players in double figures. The seniors all delivered with Knitowski (15), Kyle Sopko (14), Tommy Rock (11) and Rob Wood (10) contributing to the victory.
The game against Tech saw the Mustangs keep up the hot shooting in defeating the 7-3 Jaguars with great shot selection and defense. Manville made 7-of-10 shots in final period and 13-of-21 in the second half, while committing only eight turnovers the second half.
At 3-10, Manville was far from done. After a 64-26 blowout loss to a very good Somerville team, MHS posted back-to-back wins against Sussex Tech (69-31) and Princeton Day School (44-39).
Following a tough defeat to Rutgers Prep in the Somerset County Tournament (66-47), the Mustangs goal was to win their last five games. It would not be easy with the likes of Bound Brook, Bernards, North Warren, South Hunterdon and Belvidere on the schedule. But Manville was able to win three out of five, posting impressive victories against Bernards (57-42), South Hunterdon (62-61) and Belvidere (53-51).
Against Bernards, MHS went up against a school that had a 10-5 record coming into the contest. Senior center/forward Wood had his best game of the season pouring in 19 points to match his career high.
Wood would later comment saying, "The key is that everyone on the team is believing in everyone else. Our shot selection is better, and we are not running down the court and forcing shots on offense. Our patience has paid off."
The final two games of the year were indicative of just how far this team progressed during the season. Down by 18 to South Hunterdon, the Mustangs rallied and won thanks to a last second 3-point shot by Sopko.
Three nights later, Manville again found lightning in a bottle, surely looking at overtime with just 2.8 second left and having to go the length of the court in a tie game. Rock, Knitowski and Sopko each did their part as Rock passed the ball to a streaking Knitowski, who dribbled a few times and flipped a pass to a wide-open Sopko for an easy lay-up and the game winner.
Blasi pointed to the last two games as the top moments on the season.
"Those two games were the highlights of the year," Blasi said. "The plans came and architecture came tougher and this group of players managed to come out as winners the last two games. The kids achieved something they will not forget."
While 8-13 is not that great a record to think about, consider MHS went 8-5 the second half after starting 0-8. A couple wins in the beginning and this group would have been .500 and made the state playoffs. For the seniors, it was a great way to end things, and for the younger players something to build on.

