It’s safe to say Alex Mummert won’t be applying for a job at Hopewell Township’s weights and measures division.
If so, he probably wouldn’t get it.
“I’m five-foot-11,” Mummert said with a chuckle, “but I call it six-foot.”
It’s that kind of thinking big that had Mummert leading the surprising Hopewell Valley Central High boys basketball team to a 9-2 record through the first two weeks of January. The senior led HoVal with a 16.4-point scoring average and was tied for the team lead in steals (13) and assists (38).
“I’ll just outwork everyone,” Mummert said. “I definitely think my quickness helps.”
He has been recruited by several Division III schools and is in the process of deciding.
So, don’t tell Alex he’s 5-11.
“I’m about the same size as him, I know what he’s feeling,” said Bulldogs coach Max Stein, a former Lawrence High point guard. “You have to have the heart that’s bigger, try to fight people off. There’s other guards in the league bigger than him, but with that chip on his shoulder, especially not playing last year, those two things together are making him work hard this year.”
Ah yes, last year. It was Stein’s first as the Dogs’ head coach after he served as Jeff Molinelli’s assistant at Lawrence. He obviously wanted to get in sync with the starting point guard, who is his extension on the court.
Mummert held that role as a sophomore and, despite some growing pains and learning to deal with the increased speed and size of varsity, he had a solid year and averaged nearly 10 points.
“We didn’t really have a very good season, we had some bad chemistry,” he said. “It was a good experience though, I just learned from it.”
That summer, however, while playing AAU, Mummert got knocked over while taking a charge. The fall led to a broken wrist and surgery to repair it.
Mummert was forced to sit out all but the final two Hopewell games last year. “I’ve been on teams where players are hurt for the entire season and they don’t come, but he would always come,” Stein said. “Sometimes he’d make his own practice plans, he was able to ride a bike, that was his best friend last year. It was definitely very helpful he came around to hear my voice, see the different types things we do offensively and defensively. With the point guard it’s critical.”
No one knew that more than Mummert, who tried to be productive through the bad times.
“It was awful not playing, it was so bad,” he said. “I just wanted to help out my teammates. I went to practice, talked to them, or was working out to keep in shape. I just motivated myself for my senior season.”
HoVal won just three games all season before Mummert’s return. The young Bulldogs lost numerous close contests in which they lost leads or got beaten by buzzer beaters, and Stein is certain that Mummert’s presence would have turned several of those losses around. They won the final two in which he played.
“‘If we’d had him we would have been able to close on several of those games,” the coach said. “On the offensive side of the ball he keeps us in our offense, makes sure we’re under control when teams press us. He sets everything up for us.”
Add in this year’s start and the Bulldogs had won 11 of 13 since Mummert’s return. Their first loss this season was to a Nottingham team that had blown out nearly every other opponent by 30 or more. Hopewell also won the John Molinelli Tournament for the first time since 2004, with Mummert earning the tourney’s Outstanding Player Award.
“That was totally satisfying,” Mummert said. “It was just a nice step for us. It made us know we can do great things if we keep motivating ourselves and keep working.”
Chemistry has played a huge role in the Bulldogs start. Mummert, Rob Wiley, Milo De Los Santos, Cole Hare, Dom Zangrilli and Jack Demareski have all been teammates since starting together on a Hopewell Valley travel team in 4th grade. Mummert was a shooting guard back then, but because of his size he began focusing on his ball handling skills in hopes of getting to college as a point guard.
Everything seems to be working as planned (other than the injury), as Alex is getting his teammates involved, while also scoring when he has the chance.
“In the beginning of the game I like getting my teammates involved, I like just letting the game come to me,” he said. “In the middle of the game I get more aggressive. We have a good offense where we feed into the post and move around and do some ball screens. We also have a dribble-drive offense so that’s usually how I create my shots.”
Stein noted that the ’Dogs have three double-figure scorers in Mummert, Wiley and De Los Santos, which makes them harder to defend.
“You pick your poison,” Stein said. “If you want to shut down Alex, he’ll still work and want to get his teammates open. There’s been games he’s had 10 points, but he’s got many assists; or maybe not even assists but cutting and moving around, getting his other teammates open. It’s the other small things that don’t necessarily show up in the boxscore that he does.”
Mummert is looking for a big finish to his high school career while also deciding on his next step. He has been offered the chance to play at Division III schools Muhlenberg, Clarkson and Gettysburg, but is seriously looking at Chapman College just outside of Los Angeles, since his family will be moving to California next year.
“Some schools want to move him to the two, and he can do that,” Stein said. “He’s universal. He can be a point guard, a shooting guard. He’s an all-around type of player.”
With a chip on his shoulder that’s six feet long.
Hopewell Valley Central High School guard Alex Mummert driving to the hoop at home against Voorhees on Dec. 28, 2017. HoVal won, 68–62. (Photo by Mike Schwartz Photo/mssphoto.com.),
