By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher If you’ve never seen an Atlantic City boys basketball game, half the fun is watching the sideline antics of head coach Gene Allen. He’ll chew on his tie after a player commits a bad foul. Sometimes he’ll be six or seven feet onto the floor protesting a call that went against his boys, arms in the air, feet stomping. He’s a ball of energy on the court, and his players know that if they mess up, they are going to hear about it. Coach Allen isn’t shy about getting in a player’s face when that player doesn’t execute the play correctly, and players know committing a foul sixty feet from the basket will earn them a quick trip to the bench. He’s tough on his players, but that tough love has become his signature, and it’s difficult to argue with the results. In his 12 years at the helm, Allen has won multiple South Jersey Group 4 titles, and this season led the Vikings to the overall Group 4 state championship game after another sectional title. It may have been the best work of his career, as he guided a team that had essentially two players, and just one starter, back from last year who had any significant varsity experience. It was Lamar Thomas, a seasoned guard who was in a new role as the team’s point guard, and Ryan Fader, a workhorse off the bench the last few years in the low post, and a bunch of unknowns. Allen had plenty of talent to work with, but even most of his seniors — guys such as Munir Harris, Ayshion Centeno, Chris Marsh and Ahmad Biggins — had mostly watched from the bench the past couple of years. He also had sophomores such as Ray Bethea, Nah’Sir Morgan and Nazim Derry who, while all very talented, still had to acclimate themselves to the varsity game. Despite the challenges, Atlantic City turned in a season that featured 26 wins, including a victory over top-seeded Washington Township in the sectional semifinals, and No. 2 seed Cherokee in the title game. 
Atlantic City boys basketball coach Gene Allen is quite animated on the bench during games, but players say they love playing for him despite how tough he is on them. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) “I think it was one of my better coaching years. Expectations at Atlantic City are always so high, which brings certain pressures, but for these guys to come together and do better than what everyone expected definitely was a very good feeling,” Allen said. “The season is a marathon and there are games I was disappointed in. There wasn’t really one signature game, but if there was one I guess it would be Washington Township. They were the No. 1 seed and we were playing them in a pretty hostile environment, and for us to win that game was the most gratifying game of the season.” “He really gets the best out of you. We all believe in him because we can see how much he believes in us,” Fader said. “If he thinks putting somebody on the bench is the best thing for our team, we are all on board with it. He’s definitely the leader. If he tells us to roll around on the floor then do 50 jumping jacks while the other team is dribbling the ball, we’re going to do it because his system works. We love playing for the guy.” Atlantic City lost its second game of the season, to Timber Creek, then ripped off 16 straight wins. The Vikings went undefeated in the Cape-Atlantic League’s American Conference, winning the title with a 12-0 mark. The only time they suffered consecutive losses was in mid-February, when they lost to Camden and St. Augustine, two of the best teams in South Jersey. Their five losses came to schools who finished with a combined record of 102-21. Allen also worked all kinds of different lineups down the stretch, at one point going with almost an all-sophomore five for much of the Group 4 semifinal win over Colts Neck. His ability to get nine seniors to buy into a team-first mentality that might mean them riding the bench for extended periods of time was one of his biggest accomplishments this season. “When you have seniors and it could be their last game, naturally they want to play, but for them to defer to the younger guys and be so supportive is probably one of the greatest thrills I’ve had as a basketball coach over the past 12 years,” Allen said. Allen’s coaching style may seem abrasive at first glance, but his players understand the messages he’s sending when he gets in their faces about their performance. At least, they tend to understand by the time they are seniors, Fader said. “The screaming and hollering is still the same. I don’t feel like he did anything differently (this year), I just think being older and more mature, we kind of understood. When you look past the screaming, the hollering, the jumping up and down — the message he is sending, if you take that and use it, it’s going to work,” Fader said. “He’s always screaming about playing defense. If somebody gets by you, he’s grabbing somebody to put into the game (in your spot). But when you look back, it’s like, ‘OK, don’t let that guy get by me again.’ So you try not to let that happen again, and that makes you a better player. “I feel like as a senior-dominated team, we all knew what he was saying was right. I don’t feel like the message changed, I just feel like we understood it more.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]
Boys basketball: Atlantic City players responded to coach Gene Allen’s ‘tough love’ approach
