By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Jon Stone has always gone with the same philosophy when it comes to getting his Hun School basketball team ready for the season – play the toughest possible competition and get better every day.
“The goal is to win a championship and be prepared,” said Stone, who is beginning his 18th season as the head coach for the Raiders. “This team can get there. We just need to learn from our mistakes and grow and develop and mature as a team. We are still working on it but we certainly have some guys who can do some different things, which is nice.”
The Raiders dropped their opener, 74-54, to Haverford School of Pennsylvania at home on Tuesday. Tyler Washington sank 15 points and Eric Fleming put in 14 to lead the scoring in the loss. Shamir Florence chipped in with nine points.
Hun had trailed, 17-8, midway through the first quarter before closing the opening period with an 8-1 run to get within 18-16. But the Fords outscored the Raiders, 21-4, in the second quarter to open a 39-20 halftime lead and Hun never got closer than 17 points the rest of the way.
The Raiders suffered some heavy graduation loss from the team that finished 11-15 a year ago. But there is some experience back, led by senior tri-captains Tyler Washington, Lorenzo Spinazzi and Max Gussen. Sophomore Niels Lane is also back after seeing time as a freshman a year ago.
“We have some experience and hopefully we can find a good mixture that will help us,” Stone said. “Niles, Tyler, Lorenzo and Max all have a ton of experience and they are all good players.”
Fleming and Florence are a pair of juniors who will play big roles this season. Juniors Blake Morrisey and Myles Bostic came off the bench and contributed in the opener, as did sophomores Evan Sanders and Amir Basma.
“We just need some time to come together,” Stone said. “We had a good spurt at the end of the first quarter but we couldn’t score in the second quarter.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Raiders going forward. They will be the host to Westtown of New York on Saturday in the MAPL/Independent School Challenge before facing Vermont Academy on Sunday at The Hill School in the PSA Showcase in Pennsylvania. Hun will play St. Benedict’s Prep on Dec. 6 before opening play in the Peddie School Invitational against Our Savior Lutheran School of New York on Dec. 8.
“We always want to play the best teams we can,” Stone said. “Our schedule is tough but it is tough every year. That’s the way we schedule. We want to be at our best at the end of the season when we’re playing for championships.”
Hun will play as the host to this year’s Mid-Atlantic Prep League Tournament from Feb. 9-11 and then play in the state Prep A tournament. The Raiders last won the MAPL title in 2013 and will be looking to win their first Prep A title since 2007.
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