DUNK YOU VERY MUCH: Pat Higgins of YSU (Young Sports Unlimited) dunks the ball in recent action in the Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League. Last Monday, Higgins tallied 13 points to help second-seeded YSU defeat seventh-seeded SpeedPro 78-52 in a quarterfinal contest. YSU will face third-seeded Princeton Supply, who topped PATH Academy 53-41 in the other quarterfinal on Monday, in the league semis. The other quarterfinals are slated for Wednesday night and pit top-seeded LoyalTees against eighth-seeded Jefferson Plumbing and fourth-seeded and defending champion Majeski Foundation against fifth-seeded AEI. The semifinals are slated for July 28 at the Community Park Courts with the best-of-three championship series starting on July 31 at CP. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Pat Higgins and his teammates on the YSU (Young Sports Unlimited) squad brought a business-like attitude as they faced SpeedPro last Monday night in the quarterfinals of the Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League.

“We have got a really unselfish group, we have jelled really well all season,” said Higgins. “There wasn’t really any change — just treat it like we have been playing all year, like any other game.”

Second-seeded YSU got a good game from seventh-seeded SpeedPro in the early stages of the contest as it led by 24-18. But wearing down a shorthanded SpeedPro team which had only six players on hand, YSU built a 37-24 halftime lead and then pulled away to a 78-52 victory.

“I definitely think it was a good tune-up game,” said Higgins, reflecting on the triumph. “We just played these guys; they have some size. It was close for a while and in the second half, we stretched it out a little. We had to bring it.”

Higgins played a key role in the late surge, scoring nine of his 13 points on the night in the opening minutes of the second half.

“I was taking what was given; when the opportunity is there I am going to shoot when I am open,” said Higgins, a 6’0, 180-pound guard who went on a personal 9-0 run after halftime as YSU increased its lead from 39-28 to 48-28. “I am going to push the ball and attack the rim. When it is not, I am not going to force it. We are just trying to win. Whoever scores, it doesn’t really matter to any of us.”

That attitude has helped YSU excel in its first year in the summer league as it improved to 7-2 with the victory over SpeedPro.

“Everyone on the team has played for coach Freddie [Young] at some point in their life,” said Higgins, a former All-Prep standout at the Pennington School who went on to play for The College of New Jersey and averaged 12.1 points a game last winter in his senior campaign for the Lions. “Some of us have played together coming up. Basically he put a team together of who he thought would mesh well together and it worked out.”

YSU will face third-seeded Princeton Supply, who topped PATH Academy 53-41 in the other quarterfinal on Monday, in the league semis. The other quarterfinals are slated for Wednesday night and pit top-seeded LoyalTees against eighth-seeded Jefferson Plumbing and fourth-seeded and defending champion Majeski Foundation against fifth-seeded AEI. The semifinals are slated for July 28 at the Community Park Courts with the best-of-three championship series starting on July 31 at CP.

As he has developed into a key performer for the YSU team, Higgins has focused on working hard.

“My role is just play with energy; it feels like somebody different leads us in scoring every other night,” said Higgins of the squad which got a game-high 20 points from Aiden Anderson in the win over SpeedPro. “Everybody just comes and plays defense as hard as they can. It is pick up full court, try to force turnovers, push the ball, run, take what is given and make the unselfish play.”

Higgins has formed a productive backcourt partnership this summer with Freddie Young Jr., a former Princeton Day School/Trenton Catholic Academy star who is playing for Lincoln University.

“This isn’t our first time playing together, we played together before,” said Higgins. “I have known Freddie since middle school, so we have grown up playing with and against each other our entire life.”

In the view of Higgins, YSU possesses the depth and intensity to end up with a title this summer.

“We play nine people,” said Higgins. “It just play defense, protect the rim, let the guards funnel everybody into those bigs that we have and then get out and run.”