The Hamilton West boys’ basketball team has been down this road before.
Three seasons ago, the squad welcomed a bunch of sophomores to the varsity team and endured a 4-15 season. The growing pains paid off, however, as the Hornets went 39-14 and reached the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III semifinals and finals, respectively, the past two campaigns.
After Hamilton graduated the first six players in their rotation from last year, it looks like 2012 all over again. The Hornets lost 87 percent of their scoring from last year’s 22-7 team.
However, there is a slight difference from that 2012-13 team. West returns three juniors who all saw ample playing time and made significant contributions at various times last season: guards Jamir Williams, Mark Bethea and Cosby Paul.
Bethea averaged 4 points, Paul tallied 3.5 and Williams added 1.5. Forward Nick Ziccardi, who played sparingly, also returns after spending a season on the varsity.
“I’m happy that three of the four returning are guards and handled the ball when they were in the game,” head coach Jason Malloy said. “It’s not like they were post players who didn’t have the ball in their hands a lot. That’s the good part of it, that the returning guys are able to be thrown into the fire. They were in big games.”
They want to play in big games again this year, but to do that they need to keep the young Hornets settled down. Malloy noted that Hamilton committed too many turnovers in their scrimmages.
“We have to protect the basketball and defend,” the coach said. “The guys we had over the last four years played with a lot of passion on the defensive end. We need these guys to do that, or we could be in trouble.”
Most likely, Colonial Valley Conference teams are figuring this is the year to get to Hamilton after its graduation losses. Naturally, the veteran players are looking at it as a chance to step up and show that the Hornets must still be reckoned with.
“I think we just have to stay confident and just play together,” Bethea said. “We have to build our team chemistry a lot this year. In the (West Windsor) Summer League we developed a little bit. We had some success.”
Ziccardi anticipates West’s opposition underestimating the squad.
“We’ve been playing really well together as a group so far and I think we have a shot to surprise some people,” he said. “I’m a little curious to see how this will be. It’s a brand new team, we’ve got to gel together. But we’ve been playing pretty well, I think we can have a pretty good season.”
Bethea, who was also a starter on the football team, said he divided his time between basketball and football this summer, as opposed to last year when his focus was mainly on football.
“I had to multitask it,” he said. “At the beginning of my sophomore year I came out a little flat in basketball and I couldn’t afford that this year.”
Ziccardi’s first sport is baseball and that is mostly what he focused on in the summer. But the team’s lone senior is fired up for this winter as he is slated to get his first substantial varsity time.
“It’s been a long journey to finally get to the varsity level,” he said. “I’m very excited about the fact it’s my senior year and I’ve got to make the most of it. I’m the only senior out there, we have a young group of guys on the team. Being a leader I have to show them the right way, show them how we want to represent West basketball.”
Malloy said all four returnees will begin the year in the starting lineup. Williams will be the point guard while Bethea and Paul handle the ball and score.
Bethea felt last season’s experience provided immeasurable lessons, both from getting the chance to play and learning under star players Malik Snead and Tyleer Wrenn.
“It helped me a lot,” he said. “I picked the pace of the game up and I was able to play along with it. This year I’m able to play through the varsity level speed. Tyleer helped me physical-wise learning the game, playing smart and stuff. Malik helped me out mentally, on how to stay focused and prepared for the game.”
In discussing his guards, Malloy noted that “I don’t need Jamir to score a lot. He’s a guy I’m looking at to defend, to drive and kick out to shooters, or feed to the big men underneath and settle it down.
“Cosby and Mark both had some big moments last year,” the coach continued. “Knowing the guards are guys that have experience is a good thing. In high school basketball you need to have good guards and they know everything that we do from being here last year.”
Malloy will look to Ziccardi to provide a physical presence underneath, blocking shots and getting rebounds.
He has no problem not being asked to score.
“Cosby and Mark have been scoring pretty well in the scrimmages,” Ziccardi said. “My role stays the same. I love it.”
Newcomers to the varsity include 6-foot-4 sophomore center Dane Riley, sophomore swingmen Chris Charles and Barry Ndeh and sophomore point guard Nassir Wormley. Also seeing time will be juniors Kyle Harrington, James White and Dionny Azcona.
Riley is a legitimate post player, while the remainder of the new guys are interchangeable. Malloy feels he will probably use all 11 depending on how the games are going and what the matchups are.
“We’ve been stressing that we only have four guys back so there are a lot of minutes out there to be played,” Malloy said. “Cosby and Mark are probably our best offensive options right now. Nick’s a good spot-up shooter, he knows how to defend. He’ll make out well down there.”
The coach added, however, that due to the uncertainty of what he has, the rotation could change from week to week until certain players emerge.
“The hardest thing for us is to figure out is who plays well together with each other,” Malloy said. “Since so many guys didn’t play on the same teams last year, they’re all still learning to play with each other. Some guys were on varsity, some were on JV and some were on the freshman team.”
Another adjustment the newcomers must make is how to keep their intensity up for a full 32 minutes.
“Being able to maintain your energy for the entire game is a whole different ball game,” Malloy said. “The stuff we do offensively and defensively, all 11 guys have grasped that. But it’s learning the speed of the game and how intense it is. That’s what might take a little longer than some people might think.”
Bethea has been impressed with the way the young players have developed, saying that “They remind us of ourselves, you could see the potential but they just have to keep working at it. But I have confidence in my team and I think we can do as much as we allow ourselves to do as long as we stay together and play disciplined.”
Malloy is wisely not setting any expectations in terms of victories. He is just hoping that some early success could lead to a pretty good season.
“I know we can compete and will be competitive in every game, but we have to learn to win with this group,” the veteran coach said. “That group that went 4-20 had to learn how to win. Once they got it, they wanted it more and more. I think once these guys get some wins, they’ll want to keep winning. They just have to learn how.”
Hamilton High West’s 23 Barry Ndeh and 5 Christopher Charles and Robbinsville’s 33 Ben Hutchison and 22 Bobby Stewart battle for a rebound in the boy’s basketball season opener at Hamilton on Friday, December 18, 2015. Photo by Martin Griff,
