By: centraljersey.com
The Robbinsville High School boys basketball team isn’t quite ready to contend for a Mercer County Tournament championship, but the Ravens are moving closer.
The Ravens dropped a 73-55 decision to Pennington in the opening round of the MCT on Monday, but still have plenty to be excited about this season.
"We’ve had a lot of firsts this year," said second-year head coach Byron Conover, whose team fell to 9-14 with the loss. "Everybody knows that to grow a program it takes time and patience. We won our first holiday tournament. We won our first league road game. We’re in the state tournament for the first time. So we have had a lot of firsts this year."
The Ravens qualified for the Central Jersey Group II tournament as the No. 11 seed and will open play at sixth-seeded Carteret on Feb. 28. It will be a chance for the seniors to close out the season on a high note and the younger players to gain experience moving forward.
"We have five seniors, but we also have a pretty decent core with our sophomores and our freshmen class," Conover said. "What I like is that my sophomores, they don’t play another sport. They’re basketball players. That’s what they play in the spring and summer." That sophomore group includes Mark Carnevale, Mason Cueto and Timmy Memazi, while Anthony Massey and Darren Daniel are freshmen who have been playing up with the JV.
Those young players have had a chance to learn from the older Ravens, who have steadily improved each year.
"Our seniors set the bar," Conover said. "They have made some history and set the bar for the kids that are coming in behind them. Now we’ve made the states, we’ve won a holiday tournament. The next group had to go beyond that. We have the school record for wins. We have made progress."
Steve Kowalski, one of those seniors, led the Ravens with 15 points in the loss to Pennington. The rest of the senior class includes Ryan Mayer, Sam Sparella, Joe Carruba and Cory Karagjozi.

