By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
Clinton Suggs has known Jameer Gordon since middle school.
Longtime physical and fierce competitors on the basketball court, Suggs couldn’t pass up the opportunity to team up this winter with his former foe.
After averaging 13.5 points for St. Joseph Academy in Hammonton last season, Gordon transferred to Williamstown at the conclusion of the year, bringing his talents to what was expected to be a slowly rebuilding Braves’ squad.
It took some convincing, but Gordon was eventually able to recruit Suggs — a point guard who helped guide Paul VI to a 26-4 record last season — back to Williamstown
“I enjoyed it at St. Joe’s, but I just doubled down and bet on myself. I felt like there was more meat on the bone to chew (at Williamstown),” Gordon said. “Knowing a childhood friend, knowing you can get him, you have to keep trying until you can get him on the right day. I just kept reeling him in, and luckily enough, God aligned and I got him. I’m so thankful for him, we wouldn’t be here without him.”
As is required by all incoming senior transfers by the NJSIAA, the pair had to sit 30 days from the start of competition. Suggs and Gordon have been eligible for 11 games since, and have instantly become the Braves’ leading scorers. Suggs is averaging 22.5 while Gordon is averaging 18.1 points per contest, respectively.
Without the duo, Williamstown started the season with a 2-7 record. The Braves are 10-1 overall since they were inserted into the starting lineup back on Jan. 10, and sit at 12-8 heading into Saturday’s game against GCIT.
“Previously (Williamstown) had two wins and then eight wins, we just wanted to come in and change the program,” said Suggs, who is 74 points shy of 1,000 for his career. “Jameer was here at the start of the year, and he was trying to get me to come here. They needed a point guard to really complete the piece for Group 4. That’s what we’re really chasing right now — a Group 4 championship.”
It looked as though the Braves were in store for a long program rebuild after finishing with just two wins during the 2023-2024 campaign. They improved to 8-18 last winter under first-year coach Adam Dandrea, and have won 12-of-20 games so far this season following Thursday’s 64-57 win over Kingsway Regional, the Braves’ ninth straight.
“They’ve brought this steadiness to us,” Dandrea said of Suggs and Gordon. “They elevate the guys around them. It was always in the guys as a group, but they’ve just helped bring it out of them, the confidence and calmness.
“When I tell you he’s an absolute class act of a kid. He does everything the right way, from his practices to the way he speaks to his teammates and his coaching staff,” he added of Suggs. “He’s not a big vocal guy, but when he speaks everyone listens. He gathers that kind of attention. You have to respect him as a kid. He’s one of the most special kids I’ve coached — as a person and a player.”
With its most recent win, Williamstown avenged a Jan. 12 loss to Kingsway — the only setback since the duo entered the lineup. Gordon (13) and Suggs (9) combined for 22 points to hand Kingsway its first Tri-County Conference Royal Division loss of the season. The Braves currently are the No. 10 seed for the upcoming South Jersey Group 4 playoffs, and could be a very scary double-digit seed.
“That was a total team effort. We started fast, we were all on the same page, and the ball was flying,” Dandrea said. “We knew it was going to have to be a complete team effort. On the road, hostile environment, and they’re a heck of a team. We knew we would have to bring the juice. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter fist fight, and in a game in February on the road that’s what you expect.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Williamstown travels to Gloucester County Institute of Technology on Saturday at 9 a.m. The Braves have two more road games to finish out the regular season, Monday at Washington Township at 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday at Timber Creek at 4 p.m.
