Boys Basketball Aiming for State Tournament Run

Coach Eugene Maxwell is preparing the Summit boys basketball team for an improvement on their 13-11 record last season.  With several returning seniors and a stronger bond between players, it looks as if the Hilltoppers will be a formidable opponent this upcoming season.

"I thought we had a really good year last year," Maxwell said. "We lost some seniors, but I think what this team is going to have is great chemistry."

The camaraderie the boys in maroon need to succeed is already here: seniors  Dwaine Dabney, David Newton, and Matt Wholey are captains, and the rest of the team looks to up to them. "We're looking for great leadership from them," Maxwell stated. "They have already taken that responsibility. We're playing in a more difficult conference, and we're looking to have the best year possible. To take it a game at a time – the old cliche."

From the looks of what Maxwell declared a "light practice" to the gawking freshmen on the sidelines, the Summit boys are going to be very tough and well-conditioned.

Aside from the captains, there are several younger players who are ready to make the jump from JV to varsity.  Cris Cafiero is a junior, and this will be his first varsity season.  He said last year's JV program was "athletic, but we didn't have the chemistry.  We're a lot closer than last year's team.  We hang out."

Knowing your teammate's next move before he or she makes it is important in basketball, and the Hilltoppers have been playing together since the beginning of summer in seasonal leagues and practices. This year's opening game against Roselle is highly anticipated in spite of the tougher schedule.

"Were going to be in a new conference," Cafiero said. "We're going to be a closer team, and that means better competition. I'm excited to see how we turn out."

Captain David Newton was a varsity player last year and has seen first hand the improvement in team chemistry.

"It's our best aspect," he said. "We played really well over the summer, and I think that will carry through to this season." 

While it is customary to see the soccer team and the football team tearing up their practice pitch and gridiron, respectively, in the hot summer months, the Hilltoppers basketball players were honing their skills for winter.

"This group started over the summer," he said, and the team's hard work is about to come to fruition: hard practices mean hammering out the details.

"(In practice) we're focusing on the little things: effort, doing everything right.  If not, you've got to run," Newton said. "We're looking to advance as far as we can into states."

Co-captain Matt Wholey echoed his teammates' focus on knowing one another.

"Last year we were kind of divided," he said of the 2008-09 varsity team. "We're a much more cohesive unit, and my duty as a captain is to keep people motivated.  It's a long season." 

Wholey was complimentary of his teammates' effort as a whole, and he has plenty of expectations for the upcoming season.

"The guys returning from last year know what they're doing, and we're going hard for sure. Expect a lot of passing – a team effort instead of 1 on 1's or 2 on 2's.  Expect everyone on the same page at the same time."  As for personal goals, Wholey hopes "to be a lot more physical this year."

Clayton Johnson is a junior and, along with Cafiero, was brought up from JV for this season.

"It was a step up to varsity," he said. "It should be tough competition. I just want to contribute offensively and defensively. I want to contribute on and off the court."

Johnson's hunger for success is shared by the rest of the Hilltoppers going into the season. Their goals are clear: having worked hard all of summer and autumn, it's time for that work to start paying off. Summit made states last year, but they were eliminated in the first round.

"We have been working together since the summer," Johnson said. "I expect us to make states and to make a run for it. We have some tough games to start...but we're ready."