By Bill Alden

Coming off a rough 4-19 campaign last winter, the Hun School boys’ basketball team is eager to turn the page as it heads into the 2018-19 season.

“We have got a lot of new faces,” said Hun head coach Jon Stone, noting that his roster includes five players new to the school, two new to varsity completely, and one who played on both JV and varsity last year.

“This year, the energy has been good and the atmosphere has been good. We are talking a lot about building a positive culture. With the new faces, we are going to have to build that chemistry pretty quickly here.”

Last weekend, Hun showed some positive signs, defeating the St. James School (Md.) 73-43 on Friday before getting edged by the Westtown School (Pa.) 50-43 a day later to move to 1-2.

Stone is looking for one of those new faces, junior Xander Alvarado, to trigger the Hun offense.

“Xander is a pure point guard, he has the ability to take care of the ball and handle it and put guys in their places,” said Stone.

Two of the team’s returning players, seniors Blake Morrisey and Shamar Florence, figure to play a key role in the backcourt.

“Blake is similar to Xander in terms of what he does,” said Stone, who will also be using junior Liam Gunnarsson, freshman Dan Vessey, and junior Jake Sloss at guard.

“He played last year and got hurt the second half of the season. Shamar is also back from last year.”

In the frontcourt, Stone is looking for three newcomers, postgraduates Dylan Deveney and Andrew Seager along with junior Max Adelman, to come up big.

“Up front we have Dylan, who is a football player and will be a big boost,” said Stone

“Andrew is our other post grad, he is 6’7 and really, really long. Max is 6’4 and 215 to 220 pounds. He is a large individual and is versatile. He could probably play all five positions in a pinch.”

The Raiders should also get a boost at forward as they welcome back senior Myles Bostic, senior Eric Fleming, junior Amir Basma, junior Jack Weiss, and junior Dylan Knight.

“Myles comes off the bench and provides a lot of energy,” added Stone.

“Eric is 6’5 and is really long and athletic. Amir was with us last year and is 6’7. Jack is 6’4 and is a shooter. Dylan is in the mix, he is 6’4 and athletic.”

Stone is sensing that he has a good mix of talent at his disposal this winter.

“At this point of the season we are pleased with the chemistry that we are developing,” said Stone, whose team hosts St. Benedict’s on December 5 before taking part in the Peddie School Invitational Tournament from December 7-9.

“We have a lot of different pieces. It is a lot of guys who bring different things to the table, which is nice. It gives us an opportunity, depending on what is needed in the game, to use different styles of play and a different group of guys.”