By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
RICHLAND — The engine of the bus that brought the Absegami High boys basketball team to Richland on Thursday night hadn’t even cooled before host St. Augustine Prep had blown open its Cape-Atlantic League non-divisional game against the Braves.
The Hermits — coming off an uncharacteristic 3-3 start to the season — sprinted out to a 13-1 lead after just a few minutes of the first quarter had ticked away, and cruised from there, beating Absegami 64-48 in our Bunting Family Pharmacy Marquee Matchup.
Absegami (4-1, 1-0 Cape-Atlantic League National) came into the game riding a four-game winning streak to start the season, but after just a minute of play it was clear the Braves weren’t going to be leaving Paul Rodio Gymnasium without a blemish on their record. The Hermits raced out to a 6-0 lead then made it 9-1 on a traditional three-point play by senior forward Rory Friel, who led the way with 16 points for Prep.
“Our goal was to come out with energy, which we haven’t really done in the first few games. Recently that’s come back to us where we’re winning the opening tip, and if we don’t our defense is right up on (the opponent). Our pressure has been good and we’re making teams turn the ball over, and that leads to easy buckets,” said FrieI, a Washington Township resident who is averaging 20 points per game. “It definitely felt like they were a better team (than last year); they came in here undefeated and probably saw our record and were thinking that maybe we’re not that great, but we’re definitely not a 3-3 team. I think we’re a lot better than that. We want to see improvement from everybody. We feel like we can win the whole league and we want to prove that. (January) is a big month for us.”
St. Augustine Prep (4-3, 0-2 CAL American) has a big game against Atlantic City at home on Saturday night, but the Hermits weren’t looking ahead at all, as they led by more than 20 points in the second half against Absegami. The Braves got as close as 33-20 late in the second quarter on a putback by Bobby Peterson, but Prep freshman Luke Maransky nailed a 3-pointer with six seconds left to push the Hermits’ lead to 38-20 at the break.
“Coach Rodio and our amazing coaching staff has really been pushing everybody to work hard and play together, and it’s really started to come together recently,” said senior forward Mide Okebiorun, who added 15 points in the win. “Today, we were all on the same page. We had some amazing practices over the Christmas break, and we really meshed well today.”
Okebiorun said the Hermits’ four-game winning streak since an 0-3 start to the season can be attributed to players figuring out what their role is going to be on this year’s team. Friel and Okebiorun need to provide a lot of the scoring, junior Kyle Helphenstine is out there to rebound and kick the ball out to shooters, and guys like Jaleo Wakefield, a sophomore, and Maransky will be asked to handle the ball and get aggressive with their shooting and playmaking ability when the situations call for it.
“We started off slowly, and it was just bad chemistry to start the season. We have a young team, a lot of young guys, and them growing up and everybody settling into their roles, it was just an amazing night tonight and we hope to have a lot more of them,” Okebiorun said. “If we keep putting in the same amount of effort and playing hard against every team, we’ll set ourselves up to have a good record and a good spot heading into the playoffs.”
“We played a lot as a team today,” Friel added. “A lot of guys were getting points, we were getting to the foul line, our press was good. We played completely as a team today, which was great.”
Wakefield finished with 12 points for St. Augustine Prep while Maransky had 11, including three 3-pointers. Jamal Davis led the way for Absegami with a double-double that included 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Adam Leigh added eight points and seven rebounds.
Now, the Hermits can turn their attention to Atlantic City, a team that is coming off two straight wins and is averaging nearly 70 points per game and has scored more than 80 on two occasions so far this year.
“We’re preparing well. The coaches do an amazing job of scouting and preparing us, so I think we’ll be ready,” Okebiorun said. “They are aggressive, but we can be aggressive, too. It’s all about the effort, and if we put in that effort we’ll be right there with them.”
WHAT’S NEXT: St. Augustine Prep hosts Atlantic City on Saturday at 6 p.m. Abegami hosts Hammonton on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
