Dane Riley’s enlightening coincided with the Hamilton West basketball team’s awakening.
Riley had long been a player whose temper muted his talent. Whether it caused him to commit silly fouls, miss easy shots or just lose interest in a game, his abilities were having trouble blossoming.
Once he realized how to settle down early this season, Riley became the player Hamilton was expecting, and the Hornets reeled off their longest winning streak in years.
Entering a Jan. 24 game with Pennington, West had won eight straight for a record of 9-3, and its senior center was leading the way. Riley was averaging 13.6 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots, and helping West overcome some deficiencies.
First off, his shot blocking ability comes in handy when a teammate gets beat.
“Defensively he’s been more aggressive than the last two years,” coach Jay Malloy said. “We don’t play great on-the-ball defense, which I don’t like. But a lot of the times he’s there. He’s very crafty, he can bend, he can get around screens, he’s very agile. He comes out and blocks three-pointers so he’s been a huge asset on both ends of the floor.”
On the offensive end, when Riley gets the ball in the post, he’s been consistent at finishing. When other guys shoot, he shows further value if they miss.
“We don’t shoot the ball very well from the field, and he’s cleaning up a lot of our misses,” Malloy said. “As long as we get shots up and don’t turn the ball over, we have a chance to score. If we miss them, he’s always around the basket and that’s a huge plus.”
Dane didn’t take basketball too seriously growing up, until the buddies he played pick-up games with encouraged him to try rec ball. He began honing his skills and became a varsity starter as a sophomore. Riley averaged 10.3 and 9.4 points in his first two seasons, but the Hornets went 12-33 during that time and the big guy’s attitude was holding him back.
“It wasn’t necessarily him personally,” Malloy said. “Obviously as a team the past few years we had our struggles, mightily. But he was always taking a beating. I think with all the losing that happened in the last two years, his reactions and the way he responded weren’t what we were expecting of him. He would get in foul trouble, and it was usually how he reacted to stuff. If he gets his first foul and he doesn’t think it’s a good call, if he can just let it go and just play the way we ask him to play and go about his business, he’ll stay out of foul trouble and that will keep him on the floor.”
He was not doing that as an underclassmen, however, and nobody knows that better Riley.
“When I was growing up I always had anger problems, and I would bring them to the court,” he admitted. “Last year, I wouldn’t say I was a hothead but I didn’t know how to keep my temper. So, over the break I would learn how to keep my temper, I wouldn’t get mad at certain things.”
Riley still had a bit of residue left from that temper at the season’s outset. After scoring 26 points in the opener, he got in foul trouble and ended up getting a technical en route to a 5-point effort against Robbinsville. An upset Malloy did not start him in the following game at Ewing.
‘You ever watch SpongeBob? Nobody can know the secret formula. Me and SpongeBob never share the secret formula.’
“Just the way he handled what was happening on the court wasn’t right,” the coach said. “We sat him down and told him we’re not gonna have you on the court unless you mature and do what we ask you. I think something finally clicked, and he’s done it.”
It clicked in that game, in fact. Riley came off the bench in the second quarter for six points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots against Ewing, and has never looked back.
“I don’t bring the anger problems to the court anymore; I leave ‘em at home,” he said. “When I go out it’s for myself. In big games I would always try to talk to the crowd, talk to the other players. But not anymore. I just keep my words to myself.”
That works out fine, as Riley’s actions are speaking volumes. His shot blocking abilities have been impressive; as he seemingly comes out of nowhere to swat what looks to be an easy lay-up. When it’s a particularly impressive block, a big grin crosses his face as he nods his head.
“Defense loves to talk crap,” Riley said. “The offensive players always say, ‘Aww, Dane can’t get up, Dane can’t do this, Dane can’t do that.’ I just show them when I jump up in the air with them. I can’t say names, but when people talk junk to me, that’s when I just go up there and try to block them. Even in practice, my teammates talk so much. They say, ‘You’re not gonna do this!’ I have to show them that I am.”
Steinert coach Kyle Flanagan watched Riley block six of his team’s shots in a Hamilton victory on Jan. 19. Having seen Riley his sophomore year as Robbinsville’s coach, Flanagan feels Riley’s biggest difference has been using his shoulders more to clear out space.
“His most explosive thing is that first vertical step,” Flanagan said. “When he jumps off the ground, he’s hard to keep off the boards. He’s a tough kid out there. He’s taking his opportunities and making the most of them, but his explosiveness just vertically to go ahead and clear the glass, that’s tremendous.”
Riley’s rebounding has reached epic proportions in some games. He had 18 against Notre Dame, 16 against Steinert, 14 against West Windsor-Plainsboro South and 10 against Princeton. As Malloy noted, much of his work has been on the offensive glass.
“If my teammates miss, they know I have their backs at all time,” Riley said. “If they miss, I’m right there for it.”
He does it with energy and leaping ability, but that’s not the complete formula to his success. Not even Squidward Tentacles and the gang down at the Krusty Krab could gain that information.
“You ever watch SpongeBob? Because if you do, you know I can’t tell the secret formula,” Riley said. “Nobody can know the secret formula. Me and Sponge Bob never share the secret formula.”
The secret formula to once stopping Riley was to agitate him, but coaches are now looking for a formula to help slow him down.
“Teams from the past few years knew they could get under his skin,” Malloy said. “I think once we started winning and he saw what he was capable of, we saw some signs of maturity and the other guys started to feed off him. I think without him knowing it, he started to set the tone for us as a team on just how to play hard and go about our business. He battled through two tough years, but if he just stays composed, he’s a difference maker out there.”
Dane Riley jogs upcourt during Hamilton West boys’ basketball’s 55-49 loss to Pennington Jan. 24, 2018. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.),
