ON POINT: Princeton High boys’ basketball player Sam Serxner looks to pass the ball last Friday night as PHS opened the season against visiting WW/P-S. Senior point guard Serxner scored a team-high 17 points to help PHS prevail 57-41 in the debut for new head coach Pat Noone. The Little Tigers host Nottingham on December 22. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

With new coach Pat Noone taking the helm of the Princeton High boys’ hoops program, the intensity level has been racheted up.

“This year, it is a bit of a different philosophy; toughness has been really stressed,” said PHS senior point guard Sam Serxner.

“Everything we are about is defense, heart, and picking each other up and just giving everything we have the entire time on the court.”

Last Friday as the Little Tigers hosted WW/P-S in their season opener, they gave everything they had from the opening tipoff, jumping out to a 12-1 lead after one quarter.

“We have struggled in that past with our starts, coming out a bit slow so our big focus has been on high intensity from the start,” said Serxner.

“We know sometimes there is a drop off before you can pick it up and we figure if we can be the team that plays harder from the very beginning, it is going to give us every advantage.”

Leading 24-14 at half, PHS blew the game open in the third quarter, outscoring the Pirates 22-13, on the way to 57-41 win.

“I think that says a lot about coach Noone, every time he gets a chance to talk to us, he really fires us up and gets us going,” said Serxner, in assessing the team’s third quarter surge. “We love playing for him.”

Serxner and his teammates loved starting the season with a solid victory.

“It is always best to start with a win; we had a great crowd and great momentum,” said Serxner.

“That start really helped that. We are having a great time; it is easier to do well and be happy when you are winning.”

In Serxner’s view, the Little Tigers developed a good team chemistry before the season even started.

“It is a great group, there is no divisiveness, everyone is happy for everyone when we are doing well,” said Serxner.

“We all want to win and when a team can come together like that, good things can happen.”

In the win over WW/P-S, PHS produced a group effort offensively as sophomore Isaac Webb scored 10 points with senior Cristo Silva contributing nine points, senior Alex Filion chipping in seven, and senior Zahrion Blue adding six.

“We have the best player in the CVC in Zahrion Blue; team strategies this year are going to be to take him away because they know how dangerous he is as a scorer and a playmaker,” said Serxner.

“We have got a lot of people who can put the ball in the basket; we need people to step up.”

Serxner put the ball in the basket more than anyone on PHS last Friday, tallying a team-high 17 points.

“I probably averaged five points a game last year;  this year it is not like I have a specific number but I want to be 10-12 points a game kind of a guy and do everything I can,” said Serxner, an All-State defender for the PHS boys’ soccer team who is headed to Wesleyan University to continue his academic and athletic career.

“Shots are going to come my way, I just have to knock them down when they are there.”

For new head coach Noone, coming to PHS has been a positive experience as he succeeds Mark Shelley.

“What a great atmosphere there is here in Princeton; everybody has been welcoming; it is a great family environment,” said Noone, who is coming to the program after serving as the head coach at Lincoln High in Jersey City and previously working as an assistant coach at Rutgers-Newark.

“It is the same thing we are trying to do with the basketball program. Coach Shelley did a great job last year and we are just trying to pick up from where he was and trying to keep it going.”

In taking the helm, Noone is looking to instill a combination of harder-nosed play and unity.

“We want to have a little bit of defense and rebounding; we really want to have that togetherness that you saw tonight,” said Noone.

“I think the guys were really into it; the bench was into it. That was the big thing, it was not just the five guys on the court but all 13 of the guys. Everyone was into it. We had a great crowd, the atmosphere was awesome.”

While PHS got off to an awesome start, Noone was a little uneasy until his squad stifled the Pirates down the stretch.

“You get up 12-1 but you are nervous; you look at the clock and you have another three quarters,” said Noone.

“It was a good start, it felt good because they built off of that. Defensively our press wore them down; we threw a couple of different things at them.”

In Noone’s view, the promising start helps him solidify the bonds with his new players.

“They are really excited right now, I think tonight they thought, this is kind of fun, we can trust him,” said Noone, whose team hosts Nottingham on December 22. “He is running the program the right way and they are enjoying it.”

Serxner and his fellow seniors are hoping to enjoy a big winter in their final campaign with the program.

“We have got nine seniors on the team; it sucks to lose and this is it,” said Serxner.

“We want to play as hard as we can and make sure that we have no regrets at the end of the season.”