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YOUNG AND STRONG: Freddie Young Jr. goes up for the ball for YSU as it faced 1911 Smokehouse last Monday night at Community Park in the Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League. Former Princeton Day School and Trenton Catholic standout guard Young tallied 16 points to help YSU defeat Smokehouse 66-37 as it improved to 4-0. In other action on Monday, Novi Wealth Partners edged Jefferson Plumbing 63-62 in double overtime and Lob City topped Speed Pro 54-41. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Freddie Young Jr. wasn’t happy as his YSU team found itself in an 11-11 tie with 1911 Smokehouse last Monday night in the Princeton Recreation Department Men’s Summer Basketball League.

“We came out here kind of lackadaisical,” said Young. “It should never have been an 11-11 game.”

With former Princeton Day School and Trenton Catholic standout guard Young triggering the offense, YSU went on a 16-0 run to seize momentum and build a 34-15 lead at halftime.

“We made the change, we stepped on the gas and we kept stepping on the gas,” said Young, who starred this winter for the Lincoln University men’s hoops team. “We kept going, kept going. We played defense and turned our defense into offense. It turned out to be successful.”

Continuing to go hard, YSU cruised to a 66-37 win on the Community Park court as it improved to 4-0 this summer.

“We have a team full of talented, young guys, all of us play college basketball or did play college basketball,” said Young. “It is easy to play team basketball when everyone is on the same page with the same goal.”

Young is on the same page with backcourt mate Pat Higgins, a former Pennington School star who went on to play for The College of New Jersey. The two connected several times on Monday for buckets on fast break opportunities.

“I have known Pat Higgins since were like 15 years old, it has always been very fun playing with him,” said Young, who ended up with 16 points in the win over Smokehouse. “He is very good with his IQ. It is very easy for us to complement each other. We can both score the ball, we can both play defense together and we can both pass the ball. We have complete games. To get to play together is beautiful.”

As the main ball-handler for YSU, Young looks to keep things together for the squad.

“I see myself as a leader, I try to be a leader; that is what I am trying to create myself to be,” said Young. “In college, I play as a leader. Whatever we are not doing, can help to get us to do. That is my role as a leader.”

With YSU off to a 4-0 start, the team has done a lot of things right so far this season.

“This team is getting in synch, I feel like this summer is different from summers in the past,” said Young. “Everybody on the team is being very intentional with their summer work, trying to work out more and just be more intentional about growing and becoming better basketball players.”

This past winter, Young did some nice work for Lincoln as he helped the squad go 17-13 and win the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) tournament.

“We have been moving forward this entire time but last year we took a leap,” said the 6’3, 180-pound Young, who averaged 10.6 points a game for the Lions. “We grew as players, we grew as young men for sure. This is going to be my junior year (of eligibility), for the guys that came in with me, it is going to be their senior year. We are more mature, the maturity really shows on our team. It is very useful.”

Young has shown his growth in the way he goes about his business on the court.

“Maturity is a huge thing in basketball and life,” said Young. “For myself, I feel like I have become more mature. I am more mature in the way that I work, being intentional is the biggest thing for me. I can be in the gym for 30 minutes and it could be better than me being in the gym for three hours because I am being intentional.”

After having reached the league semifinals last summer, YSU is intent on taking the title this season.

“Honestly, it is taking it seriously, taking the league seriously and taking every game seriously,” said Young. “We are not just out here to play and have fun. We are out there to get better and to win and to show that we are the best team out here. We feel like we are the best team out here. We can hear the chatter, everyone wants to come play against us. We just need to take it seriously the entire way through.”