Hard learning

Red Devils don’t mind ‘playing up’ if it helps them get better in the long run

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WILDWOOD – Penns Grove coach Damian Ware could have been all sulky and mad after the kind of loss his Red Devils took from St. Augustine Monday night in the Boardwalk Classic, but he wasn’t.

There’s a reason he brings his teams here to play teams the likes of the Hermits and if it takes absorbing a 62-32 or similar loss from time to time in the name of getting better, he’s willing to do that.

The Hermits had their way in so many aspects of the game in the Wildwood Convention Center, especially in the first half, but Ware took it for what it was worth. You can’t get better in the long run if you don’t see better along the way.

“That’s why we want to matchup against teams like this, so we see teams like this,” Ware said. “We won’t see teams like this is the division or in the conference or in Group 1. We always want to take this trip down here because we always match up with a better team at a different level, so it’s good for us to get that experience.

“I feel like we got what we wanted, we just didn’t make shots and when they got their shots they made them. That’s really our biggest thing, putting the ball in the basket, right now. Our defense is good enough. We give up 62 points to a St. Augustine team, that’s not too bad because they can easily drop 80 or 90 on somebody at any time.

“In the grand scheme of things this was a stepping stone and a teaching tool. We’ll take this film, we’ll break it down, we’ll watch it with the kids and we’ll show them where we need to improve and what we need to do to get better and then we’ll move on from there.”

When the Red Devils (1-3) look at the film again they’ll see St. Augustine controlled the game from the start. The Hermits scored the first 11 points of the game – the first eight by Rory Friel – led 23-3 midway through the second quarter and 29-10 at halftime.

Friel, a 6-5 senior, had 10 points and five rebounds in the first quarter and finished with 18 and eight in the game. Olumide Okebiorun, the Hermits’ other 6-5 starter, had eight points and six boards.

The Red Devils scored only six points in the first 14 and a half minutes of the game and they all came from Roman Gipson. The 6-0 junior got his team on the board with a 3-pointer from the right corner with 3:00 left in the first quarter, rolled in a layup with 3:49 left in the first half and added a free throw 30 seconds later.

That was the extent of it until Brandin Robbins hit a layup with 1:28 left in the half and Luis Colon hit two free throws 7.3 seconds before halftime.

“The main thing I’m telling them at halftime is we’re getting what we want, we got the shots we want, but one thing we’ve got to do is a better job of getting organized in our half-court,” Ware said. “That’s where we’re kind of learning and still growing and our youth is still not really there yet.

“In the full court we’re pretty good, but in the half court we’ve got to get better.”

They were much better in the second half. The Red Devils didn’t win the half, but they did score more points and played the Hermits even in the fourth quarter. KaRon Ceaser scored all seven of his points in the second half.

“I was happy with how we started in the third quarter and when we started playing downhill,” Ware said. “That’s what I’m trying to get these guys to do, play downhill, because we play side-to-side too much.

“That’s the main thing, getting these guys to understand how hard you actually have to play to win at a high level.”

ST. AUGUSTINE 62, PENNS GROVE 32
ST. AUGUSTINE (3-3) – Phillip Brunozzi 1 0-0 3, Jaleo Wakefield 1 4 0-0 9, D.J. Mosley 0 0-0 0, Brayson Thurber 1 0-0 2, Jaden Hollingshead 0 0-0 0, Rory Friel 8 2-3 18, Olumide Okebiorun 2 4-5 8, Nic Companaro 0 0-0 0, Luke Maransky 2 0-0 6, Joe Peacock 0 0-0 0, Aaron Jones 1 0-0 2, Jacob Plenn 1 0-0 2, C.J. Melillo 1 1-2 4, Johnny Godfrey 1 0-0 2, Kyle Helphenstine 2 0-0 4, Richie Cruz 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 7-10 62.
PENNS GROVE (1-3) – KaRon Ceaser 3 0-0 7, Brandin Robbins 1 0-0 2, William Roy 1 0-0 2, Jameel Horace 0 0-0 0, Luis Colon 0 3-4 3, Roman Gipson 3 1-2 8, Geonni Conrad 0 0-0 0, Antoine Robinson 0 0-0 0, Caleb Fowler 1 0-0 2, Davine Banks 0 4-4 4, Haneef Frisbee 2 0-1 4, Mishawn Bradley 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 8-11 32.

St. Augustine	15	14	17	16-	62
Penns Grove	3	7	6	16-	32