Defense will be the rally call this boys’ basketball season when Allentown High School seeks to rebound and end with a winning record.
The Redbirds will focus on improving from their 8-15 record of a season ago by playing solid defense.
“Our expectations are just to play really strong on defense,” coach Jay Graber said. “Just get back to the positive progression that we’ve been making as a program since we started here and share the ball and play well as a team.”
Graber likes the mix of veterans and youth this year’s team features.
“I think it’s a good combination of both,” he said. “We have a couple of guys who played last year, but we have a couple of new guys that are now in the mix as well. It should be interesting how it all works out.”
Graber, who is in his seventh season, will look for his veteran leadership to help guide the Redbirds to a winning season.
“We’re looking at our four seniors,” the coach said. “Yeshua Powe, Stafford McIsaacs, Zach Bomba and Bobby Hynes will be strong for us this year. And I think some of our underclassmen — [sophomore] RJ Weise, [junior] Jack Kudrick, [sophomore] Chris McCrea — and three or four other kids in the mix too [will contribute]. So we’ll see, but we like what he have this year.”
Hynes, the starting center, and Powe, the point guard, have high hopes for the Redbirds.
“I’m looking for at least a 14- to 15-win season,” Hynes said. “I want a top-five seed in the playoffs and make a pretty good state run. We need to work harder and harder every day and keep building on what we’re doing.”
“I feel like it’s going to be a great year,” Powe said. “We’re looking a lot better than last year. I feel like we really have something special with this team. I think to be a successful season, we need to execute on defense. We just have to play as one. We have to be unselfish, push the ball and push the pace.”
The Redbirds will start their season on the road at Nottingham High School in Trenton on Dec. 15 at 5:30 p.m.