Despite losing soundly in its season-opening contest, the boys’ basketball team at Allentown High School still brought plenty of effort to the court.
It wasn’t enough, however, as the Redbirds fell to Nottingham High School, 97-47, on Dec. 15 in Hamilton Township.
The Redbirds played well in the first quarter and came out of it only down by four points, but a 29-4 second period from Nottingham doomed Allentown’s chances of scoring an upset.
Allentown coach Jay Graber had a lot of respect for Nottingham, but he also believed his athletes came into the game ready to play.
“Nottingham is a really strong team,” the coach said. “They have their whole team back from last year. They have very talented players. In my opinion, they should be a top 20 team in the state, but we’re looking to come back from a tough year last year. We have a group of guys that are really excited to play. They put in an incredible amount of hard work and effort. We’ve had great practices, so we’re just excited for the opportunity.”
Graber also said the team’s defense is going to have to be the catalyst for victories.
“In order to win, I think we’re going to have to play really tough on defense,” he said. “We’re going to have to limit teams to one shot. On offense, we have to take great shots and not turn the ball over.”
Despite the loss to Nottingham, the Redbirds received strong contributions from sophomore RJ Weise and junior Jack Kudrick. Weise scored 13 points, while Kudrick contributed another 10 points.
“Weise and Kudrick played really well for us,” Graber said.
Senior Yeshua Powe also posted 10 points.
“Nottingham is a really strong team,” Graber said. “We’re just looking to bounce back on Tuesday night (Dec. 19) in our home opener [against West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South].”
The Redbirds did just that when they edged West Windsor-Plainsboro South on their home court by a 42-40 score. They followed with another victory when they visited Lawrence High School on Dec. 21. The 48-45 result in favor of Allentown improved the team’s record to 2-1 on the season.
The Redbirds were scheduled to host West Catholic Preparatory High School from Philadelphia on Dec. 27.