By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
According to head coach Matt Wolf, the Lenape High boys basketball team is undefeated across all three levels — freshman, junior varsity and varsity — as the calendar turns to 2026.
What has been the Indians’ secret to success throughout the program?
Leaning hard into cliches, Wolf says.
Coaches love to talk about team basketball, sharing the ball, getting good shots, playing tough defense — all that stuff. It’s easy to say, much harder to actually get done on the court, especially when you play in the Olympic Conference and play the type of non-league schedule that Lenape does.
Wolf and his staff, however, put a little bit of a unique twist on tired old cliches, and it seems to be working. They tell their players, ‘look, we know you’re good, that’s why you’re in the starting lineup. And we know you can score. But even though we know — and you know — that you can make that shot, think about passing it up for an even BETTER shot.’
It’s not that the Indians play a slogging offense that searches endlessly for the perfect shot, but it’s just creating that mindset that if players think about the success of their teammates before themselves, well, that’s how you stack up a lot of wins. Naturally, every guy on a varsity roster wants to be the star of the team. You have to be at least that competitive to even make it to the varsity level at a school like Lenape. But when coaches can convince outstanding players that sometimes scoring 12 points in a game is more valuable than 25 — that’s a major breakthrough when you’re talking about 16- and 17-year-old athletes. Once players start to see that scoring a dozen points in a win is better than putting up 20-plus in a loss, and you put that on repeat, it starts to make an impression.
“We certainly can’t complain with our start — so far, so good. Obviously, there is still a ton of season left and with our schedule there are no nights off,” Wolf said after Saturday’s 59-49 win over visiting Bishop Eustace. “We have a saying, ‘pass up shots that you can make for shots that WE can’t miss.’ Yeah, you can make that shot, but the next one might have been a layup that we couldn’t miss. Do something to get your teammates open and they will do something to get you open. And, half the time when you’re doing something to get a teammate open, you’re the guy who is open because there will be some kind of breakdown (in the opponent’s defense).
“We preach sharing the ball, giving up good shots for great shots, and I thought we did that today. We split-and-kicked for each other nicely and hit some shots, and the next thing you know our defense was creating offense.”
The theory is, if you’re taking a lot of great shots, you’re obviously scoring at a pretty good clip, and that puts pressure on the opposing team to match your efficiency. And when the other team is trying to do things it may not necessarily be comfortable with in order to score points in bunches or not get too far behind, that’s when Lenape turns up the heat defensively.
“People look at us like we’re not that good, but we’re coming for everything. We want to be in the top 10 in South Jersey, we want to win a state championship — that’s our tradition, winning sectionals, things like that,” junior guard Jaidyn Boyd said after scoring 15 points against the Crusaders. “We want to continue to practice hard, communicate more on the defensive side of the ball, learn more things, watch film. We don’t care who the opponent is, we just want to play ball.”
South Jersey basketball fans might be surprised to see Lenape sitting at 8-0 heading into January considering the Indians only have two guys back — Boyd and senior point guard Nolan Barnes — who were impact players from last year’s team that won a sectional championship. But the guys who are getting it done this season are the same guys who were getting knocked around in practice every day by the stars of last year’s team. They got better just by being around all those good players, as well as competing against alumni all summer.
“It’s all the work we put in during the summer. We had workouts every morning at 6:30 a.m. where they were competing against each other. And we have former players come back and play, and it’s just a great atmosphere,” Wolf said. “We play games at night and showcases on the weekends. You play in these showcases in Philly and those are big moments in front of college coaches, so you better be ready. All that stuff helps prepare for this.
“Some of the guys shining now were JV guys last year who were going up against sectional championship players (in practice every day) and that really helps. Our freshman and JV teams haven’t lost yet either, so each level prepares you for the next. Hopefully, by the time they are up with the varsity it’s just business as usual.”
That’s what builds championship programs, each class of guys challenging the ones coming up to play up to their level. It’s hard to make a starting spot on Lenape’s varsity roster, and when guys get there they are competing every day to keep that spot.
“We had players who graduated and they were very good players who played at a high level,” Boyd said. “I give them credit, they come back and they help us out. We learned from the older guys in the program, and now we want to set the standard for the younger guys.”
The challenge now is to keep it going, which won’t be easy. January is a grind, a long month full of games and cold bus rides. Lenape gets another big test right out of the gate to start 2026 when it hosts rival Cherokee on Tuesday night at 6.
“Every game is tough with our schedule, in our conference. The big thing we preach is just to get better every day,” Wolf said. “I know it sounds cliché but that’s what I tell the kids. Yes, we’re off to a good start, but we have to keep getting better.”
