The High School North and High School South boys’ basketball teams played their season opener on December 14. The Pirates, who are coming off a 20-4 record last year, defeated the much improved Knights, 82-75. Since then South has played to a 3-2 record, with both losses against non-area teams in tournament play.
Head coach Bob Schurtz said he hopes to compete for division, conference, and state titles, but after graduating seven seniors, he knows that the Pirates are going to have to work a little harder than usual. “It has always been our goal as a program to believe in ‘reloading’ instead of ‘rebuilding,’ but that does not come easy,” he said. “Our up-and-coming players have been working tremendously hard at getting prepared to fill some of the holes.”
Schurtz lists seniors Dennis Zhou and Sam Merchant, junior Chris Scanlan, and sophomores Tommy Hussong and Danny Borup as some of those key up-and-comers.
His returning seniors, though, are the ones he expects to fill the shoes of last year’s graduates. “We hope that the players stepping in can offer something different that will provide similar results,” he said. He expects guards Bryan Rivers and Zavon Johnson and forward Brian Matthews to do just that.
Rivers, named first team, all-conference last year, has been a key part of the Pirates’ success since his first year with the team. He has already scored 121 points this season, and with 930 career points, he is on pace to reach the 1,000 point mark. Schurtz said Rivers has a chance at breaking the school record for career points, 1,387, set by Billy Royal in 1986.
“Bryan is a phenomenal talent and has grown as a person and player over the last couple seasons,” Schurtz said.
Schurtz said South’s guards have been the squad’s greatest strength during the past few seasons.
“We hope that will continue to be the case this season,” he said. With Rivers and Johnson returning, Schurtz says “we obviously rely on them to be our catalysts at both ends of the court. It is rewarding to watch them lead by example every day on the court.”
South captured the conference title last year, and Schurtz said the team wants to add another banner to that collection. At the end of the season, he would like to see the team “ideally in a championship game, whether it be for the league, county, or section. We always want each team to strive to leave a legacy, and hanging a banner is a great way to do that.”
North’s 2011-’12, though, ended much differently. The Knights finished the year at 2-23. Now, at 2-3, they have already matched last season’s win total.
“Coming off last season, we’re just trying to get as many victories as we can and learn how to play the game through hard work and competing every night,” head coach Tim Stevens said.
Stevens is in his first year as head coach with the Knights. He is no stranger to the area, though. Stevens has been in the district for eight years and spent the last two as a coach at South. He said the familiarity with the students and culture has made the transition a little easier on him and his players.
“I’m used to the kids in the area,” he said. “I know the North kids pretty well, so it’s not a complete change in culture and attitude.” Still, though, he said everyone has needed a little bit of time for adjustment.
“It’s going to take time for them to get used to my coaching style,” he said. “It’s going to take some time for me to get used to their playing style.”
Stevens said one of the most major changes is game tempo. “I like to play a little bit more uptempo than they’re used to playing,” he said. “They’re fully capable of doing it, and I think once we get clicking, it will help us throughout the season.”
He also hopes to make some defensive changes. “We’re not quite there, but we’re working on it, and we’ll get there eventually,” he said. “We’re giving up a lot of points, especially in transition. We have to come back down on defense and not give up easy buckets.”
Stevens said the key to his team are core groups of seniors and juniors. Kyle Newman and Darrien Banks are at the top of the senior list. Reggie Chandler, Christian Waters, Nigel Jordan, and Xavier Dory round out the juniors.
One of the biggest contributors, though, is junior guard Juwan Harrison. He leads the team with 104 points. “He has had a nice opening couple of games,” Stevens said.
Stevens said once he and his athletes get used to one another, he sees positive changes ahead for North boys’ basketball. “After this season, I want to look back and know that we competed every night, we worked hard, and we didn’t leave wins on the floor,” he said. “We’re going to go out there, give it our best, and we’ll see where we end up.”
