By John E. Powers, Sports Writer
Jason Miller is approaching his first year as a head coach — and a lucky one.
”How many coaches come into a situation where four of their starters are experienced seniors,” said Miller, the new head coach of the South Hunterdon Regional High School boys basketball team.
Miller takes over for John Zidzik, who stepped down in the spring.
”I knew over the summer, and that’s when I started working with the kids,” said Miller, 28, a graduate of Neshaminy (Pa.) High School and West Chester University.
The Eagles, 9-15 last year, would like to qualify for the Central Group I playoffs, and Miller believes they have the talent. Senior shooting guard Anthony Danese returns after having averaged 12 points per game. He scored 50 three pointers.
”He’s a great shooter,” said Miller, a health and physical education teacher at South. “He’s one of those kids learning the other aspects of the game. But if he’s open, he’s going to knock it down.”
Senior 6-foot-4 center Dan Musselman returns as well.
”Dan had a great summer for us; he put a lot of time in and has looked really good,” said Miller, who was the head junior varsity coach last year.
Senior forward Kyle Hart will be the rebounding specialist.
”He’s a banger and likes to mix it up,” Miller said. “We just want to keep him out of foul trouble.”
Senior Ryan Marriott will be a forward.
”Ryan is a scorer; he finds ways to score and has led us in scoring,” Miller said. “He finds way to score.”
Sophomore Kyle Battle takes over at point guard after a productive summer where he played for his father, Brian. Battle was the junior varsity point guard last year.
”He’s really scrappy and knows how to play the game,” Miller said. “He has shown leadership in the pre-season and the ability to go with the flow. He’s not going to score a lot, but he’s very dedicated and will get us into our sets.”
Junior Brian Snell will be one of the first ones off the bench along with sophomore Justin Roy.
”Brian is very scrappy and super athletic and causes all kinds of problems for the other team,” Miller said. “He’s so tough, and he can really play any more from guard to forward, depending on the match-up. He can really hound the other guards. Justin will be in a swing role like Brian, but he’s more offensive minded than Brian. He can flat out score.”
The Eagles were in most of their games last year, and Miller figures if the team can turn a few of those games into wins, their pre-season goal can become a reality.
”Their goal has been to make the states. That’s what they are shooting for, and I think they can do it,” Miller said. “Hopefully, we can close out some of those close games we lost last year.”
The season starts on the road Monday at Pennington before the Eagles return home Friday for a game against Skyland Conference rival Bound Brook.

