YOUNG AND STRONG: Freddie Young Jr. looks to unload the ball for the YSU (Young Sports Unlimited)squad last week in Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League action. Last Wednesday, former Princeton Day School/Trenton Catholic standout and current Lincoln University player Young scored 15 points to help YSU defeat Majeski Foundation 62-42. On Monday night, YSU fell 48-41 to LoyalTees as it dropped to 5-2. In other action on Monday, SpeedPro topped Jefferson Plumbing 56-51 and PATH Academy defeated Planet Fitness 51-45. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

It was sweltering last Wednesday evening with the temperature hovering in the high 80s and the air thick with humidity and Freddie Young Jr. had to push through some fatigue as well as the heat when he hit the Community Park courts for YSU (Young Sports Unlimited) in the Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League.

Having gone through a series of workouts earlier in the day in preparing for his second season with the Lincoln University hoops program, former Princeton Day School/Trenton Catholic Academy standout Young grinded his way to 11 points as YSU jumped out to a 30-17 halftime lead over Majeski Foundation, a squad comprised of players from The College of New Jersey men’s hoops team.

Young acknowledged that his legs were little bit heavy from his busy day of training.

“I know I could do so much more, I was feeling it a little bit but we did three workouts,” said Young who was training with YSU teammate and former TCA and college star Charles Cooke. “It was riding bikes, getting our shots up, and ball handling so that is three workouts.”

With YSU coming off a 49-41 loss to AEI on June 28, its first defeat this season after four straight wins, Young and his teammates were feeling hungry to get back on the winning track.

“It was, ‘Don’t come back and make any of the same mistakes that we made last week,’” said Young. “We are way better of a team than the way we played — we weren’t making shots. It was really ‘just don’t sell yourself short anymore.’”

In the second half, YSU kept making shots as it pulled away to a 62-42 victory.

“We got a pretty good lead and then in the second half, we just had to keep them where they were,” said Young who ended up with 15 points in the win. “We were playing good defense. We weren’t letting them do whatever they wanted to do and then everything else came together on offense.”

Young has formed a productive partnership on the perimeter with Pat Higgins, a former TCNJ standout.

“I love playing with Pat, being two guards in the backcourt,” said Young of Higgins, who scored a team-high 19 points against Majeski. “I think we play well together as twos.”

The two combined for a highlight reel play late in the game as Higgins lofted an alley-oop pass that Young converted into a one-handed slam dunk.

“It felt good,” said a smiling Young. “I have been working on my bounce this summer.”

The YSU squad has developed a good groove this summer as its players have been reunited from their high school days.

“YSU is basically my dad’s AAU team, most of us all came through the program and now we are out in college and some guys play pro,” said Young of YSU which fell 48-41 to LoyalTees last Monday in moving to 5-2. “We are just coming back and playing together as grown men. It feels like the same thing when we were playing AAU.”

Last winter, Young showed a lot of growth in his debut campaign for Lincoln, making 27 appearances with 15 starts, averaging 6.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists a game.

“Coming off the redshirt freshman season, I had to come in and reintroduce myself as a basketball player in general,” said Young, whose freshman campaign was derailed by a preseason injury. “I had to gain my own confidence back — I had to gain the confidence of the school. That is what came through this past year. This next year is when I get to show the world who I really am and that I can really hoop.”

For Young, hooping this summer for YSU is a key part of that process.

“This is my fourth workout — everything that I am doing this summer is preparing me to be a great player next season,” said Young.