Williams, Raiders stop Mercersburg
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Eric Williams has been through the adjustment period before with the Hun School boys basketball team.
As a four-year member of the program, Williams has seen plenty of players come into the program and take a while to adjust. This year, Williams is the lone returning starter on a team that brought six key players into the fold.
The adjustment period has taken some time this year, but Williams hopes Saturday’s 60-48 win over Mercersburg is the start of good things to come for the Raiders.
”It just took us a little while to figure out that we had to start playing as a team to start winning games,” said Williams, who scored 18 points on Saturday as Hun improved to 6-7 on the season. “A lot of guys, on their AAU team they were the man. We have a lot of people who can make shots and we have started having more faith in each other.”
Williams has been around the program for four years and this year carries the title of captain. But with or without the official designation of captain, the Plainfield resident is a leader for the Raiders.
”He has been very reliable this year as a player, as a leader and as a captain,” said Hun coach Jonathan Stone, whose team followed up the win over Mercersburg with a 52-41 win over Lawrenceville on Tuesday. “He’s a veteran of the program in every way. He has given us everything we’ve needed for the most part. It is great as a coach to be able to rely on someone like that. It is as much his character that allows him to do that. He’s a special kid.”
Williams connected on five three-point shots, including two key ones when Mercersburg was making a run in the second half. He is second on the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game and brings a steady presence to the court. He’s helped bring together a group of players that didn’t know much about each other coming into the season.
”It just takes a lot of leadership,” said Williams, who had a team-high 18 points in the win over Lawrenceville. “But it is not just me, it is some of the other players, too that are stepping up like Kyle Borden and Austin Harriott and Niall Carpenter. They are just helping me as well being leaders on the team.”
Borden and senior Tucker Stevenson were on the varsity roster a year ago, but the rest of the roster is filled with newcomers. Ben Seipt led the Raiders with 19 points on Saturday, 10 of which came during an early run that gave Hun a 15-4 lead in the first quarter. Dominic Robb leads the team in scoring at 12.3 points a game, while Andrew Dufort, Harriott, Carpenter, Chris Sharp and Austin Hutcherson are all new to the varsity.
”It has clearly been a work in progress getting used to each other,” Stone said. “We’ve been really good some games and not so good other games. Today in the first and third quarters I thought we were sharing the ball as well as we have all year and that made a difference.”
Williams has been the steady presence and one player who has been through the Mid-Atlantic Prep League battles before. He’s improved every year and has been a steady player this year for the Raiders.
”I am happy with where I am now,” Williams said. “Coach Stone has really helped me with becoming a well-rounded player. The same with my AAU coach, Mark Williams, he has been helping me as well to figure out that I can shoot the ball a lot more and I have to shoot it with confidence.
”I can play point guard, but everybody knows I like to shoot, especially when I am hot. So we’ll give it Austin Harriott and he’ll bring the ball up and create and then kick it out to me for a three. If I am off I will try to create for other players. It’s all a team effort.”
The Raiders are 3-1 in MAPL play this year. They topped Hill on the road, 45-43, in overtime before falling to Blair, 61-42. After that loss the team knew it needed to play better basketball to compete and bounced back with wins over Mercersburg and Lawrenceville.
”It all just kind of started from practice,” Williams said. “We all started going a lot harder. After we lost to Blair on Wednesday that was a tough loss and we said we weren’t going to get down on ourselves. We were going to take that loss out on Mercersburg and hopefully carry it over to Lawrenceville on Tuesday and keep it going the rest of the season.
”Every game is a grudge match in the league. I remember two years ago we were 3-2 in the MAPL and then we won the tournament against Peddie.”
If the Raiders play the rest of the season the way they did early in the game against Mercersburg, they could enjoy that same sort of success at the end of this season.
”We came out early and shared the ball well and hit some shots,” Stone said. “I thought our defense was really good early. The league is tough but I feel like it is that way every year. Blair of very good and so are Hill and Peddie. We play Lawrenceville on Tuesday and they are strong. Any one of us can beat anybody on a given night and it makes for a fun league.”