Rashid Epps missed out on a lot last winter for the Hun School boys’ basketball time as he struggled with a leg injury.

The 6’4 senior forward was sidelined for half the season due to a balky hamstring.

Following a regimen of stretching, Epps has bounced back this season, giving the Raiders a jolt in the paint.

“I see my role as bringing energy and being there to pick up the garbage, so to speak,” said Epps. “Doing the hard work stuff, getting those rebounds and getting steals too.”

Last Saturday against visiting Peddie, Epps provided energy and offensive production, scoring a game-high 15 points as Hun cruised to a 54-23 triumph.

“I just stayed calm,” said Epps, reflecting on his performance. “I got a lot of my points off of steals because defense leads to a great offense.”

Coming off a disappointing 66-46 loss to Blair two days earlier, Epps and his teammates were looking to set the tone with defense.

“Our defense against Blair was pretty bad so we stepped it up in practice,” said Epps.

“It is all about staying together after that loss. We had a good practice yesterday and we came out and bounced back.”

Hun head coach Jon Stone liked the way his players bounced back from the disappointing performance at Blair.

“We were not good on Thursday; they knew it, I knew it,” said Stone, whose team improved to 6-6 with the win over the Falcons.

“It is always nice to see us respond; I think the guys did a great job of it tonight.”

In Stone’s view, his guys produced a superior defensive effort against the Falcons.

“I think our defense was tremendous, especially in the first part of the third quarter,” said Stone, whose club held Peddie to eight points in the second half. “It was just playing hard and rotating well which was fun to watch.”

It was also fun for Stone to see his backcourt of Bo McKinley and Fergus Duke loosen up the Peddie defense with some deadeye shooting.

“I think Bo hitting some of those 3s early helps out Fergus at the 1,” added Stone, who got 11 points apiece from his star guards.

“I think we have some guys who can score inside. I think the balance is the key to our team. In all honesty, when we are playing together is when we are playing well. We certainly played together tonight.”

Stone liked the way Epps played as he wreaked havoc in the low post along with Will Kelly.

“It is kind of how Rashid plays, with high energy,” said Stone. “He has the ability to do a lot of different things. He was finishing off his steals today; he rebounds the ball so well. He certainly did a lot for us but again it was a pretty solid team effort. Will Kelly did a lot of great things out there; I know he didn’t score a ton but he made some big baskets. His presence was tremendous.”

With Hun being plagued by inconsistency so far this winter, Stone is hoping his team can put together a solid run.

“That is what I just told them, some consistency would be nice,” said a grinning Stone, whose team plays at the Academy of New Church (Pa.) on January 11 before hosting the Hill School (Pa.) on January 14.

“We don’t need all these highs and lows. I think we are still learning and growing as a team and as a unit. We have made some nice strides at times and then we have taken some steps backwards. The key is that we keep moving forward and eventually jell together a little bit more. We don’t have a superstar but that is not a bad thing. I think that is the sign of a good team if we can have that balance.”

Epps, for his part, believes that the win over Peddie could help Hun jell into something special.

“I think it can but we have to take each game one by one,” said Epps. “We can’t just focus on this win because we have a tough schedule. We have to stay together after a loss and think about what we can work on.”