By Jeff Appelblatt
A year after Colts Neck High School’s boys’ basketball team won the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV title, coach Lou Piccola knew things would be different.
The majority of the winning team graduated, while some of the other top competitors in the Shore Conference — including the team the Cougars beat in the championship game, Freehold Township High School — were sending out lineups similar to last year.
Halfway through the season, Piccola feels his team is ready to compete to the finish line again.
“We’re growing up a little bit,” the coach said. “You can’t be a junior anymore. We’re in the middle of the season, and each guy has got to be a senior.”
In other words, Piccola expects the young players on his team to play the rest of the way like it’s not their first time playing in big games.
Colts Neck won four out of five games before their meeting with Marlboro High School Jan. 24. After losing to the Mustangs (9-4) early in the season, Piccola saw the rematch as a crucial game.
“It’s a must win,” the coach said after his team beat Middletown High School South, 72-48, Jan. 21. “They’re a solid team, but we have to win.”
If the Cougars were going to outplay the Mustangs, however, they would have needed a strong showing from the team’s top offensive weapon, Danny Gaines. He’s been the team’s top scorer this year with more than 18 points per game.
Piccola knows it’ll take more than one scorer for the Cougars to be successful.
“We have a couple of other weapons. It’s important [we] share the ball,” Colts Necks’ coach said. “We’ve got four or five guys that could score 20 points. We can’t win with one player.”
The other top scorers for the Cougars this year alongside Gaines have been Brendan Clarke, Ben Bosland and Rob Hill. However, Colts Neck sees Gaines as its No. 1 option. Then again, the Cougars are familiar with needing to sway away from their top scorer. In last year’s championship game, Colts Neck aimed to set Lloyd Daniels up for the potential game-winning shot. However, everyone knew that, and the ball ended up in the hands of Clarke, who hit the game-winner.
Piccola is confident his team will compete until the final horn sounds.
“Why show up to practice if we can’t compete?” the coach asked. “We lost five starters [from last year]. We’re just finding ourselves. We’re still competing.
“Keep working hard is all you could ask for.”
For Colts Neck, that will include against Manalapan High School Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m. in Colts Neck. The Braves (2-11) didn’t have much luck the first time against any of its Shore Conference A North Division rivals, but no one can predict how Manalapan will play the second time around.
For now, the Cougars (8-5) can just hope to replicate the 15-point win they came up with the first time they played Manalapan in December.