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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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Stuart Hoops Falls in Tip-Off Event But Its Hustle Bodes Well for Future
By Bill Alden
Tony Bowman learned an important lesson last Thursday as his Stuart Country Day basketball team absorbed a lopsided loss to Hun School in the championship game of Stuart's Tip-Off Tournament.
With Bowman's team trailing by 20 points or more for most of the second half, the Tartans could have gone through the motions and just played out the string.
Instead, Stuart's players dove to the floor for loose balls, crashed the boards to fight the taller Raiders for each rebound, and played hard defense to the bitter end.
Even though his team ended up on the short end of a 72-39 decision, Stuart head coach Bowman liked the commitment demonstrated by his charges.
"They play hard, they do everything I ask," said Bowman, whose club topped Princeton Day School 48-29 on Wednesday to reach the title game of the annual event.
"They are down by 20 and they're still killing themselves. You can't ask for any more. We scrapped, we hustled. I learned that my kids have a lot of heart."
The Tartans' aggressiveness caught the eye of Hun head coach Bill Holup. "I give Stuart a lot of credit, they outhustled us," said Holup. "They were more aggressive than we were."
Bowman, for his part, acknowledged that his squad needs some better execution to go with its hustle.
"For us to win, we need to run our offense," said Bowman, who is in his second year at the helm of the Stuart program after leading the Tartans to the state Prep B semis in his debut season. "We need to keep the ball a lot longer in our hands than in our opponent's hands."
Bowman likes it when the ball is in the hands of either his junior star Kathryn Kitts or rapidly-improving sophomore Kelly Bruvik. Kitts led the Tartans in scoring with a total of 28 points in the tournament while Bruvik chipped in 24.
"Kathryn and Kelly stood out, they both played really well," said Bowman of his two standouts who were both named to the event's All-Tournament team.
"This is their second year with me. They know the program. We've got some new kids coming in here and they are training and helping them. They put it out and they do the job."
Bowman was also happy with jobs turned in by senior point guard Adie Sullivan and sophomore forward Taj Pannell.
"Sullivan did real well, she is my starting senior," asserted Bowman, who got 15 points from Sullivan in the tourney.
"Taj had some good moves. She was boxing out better in the second half which helped us out a lot. She played very tough. She has made a major improvement from last year to this year."
In Bowman's view, the spirit his team showed last Thursday will lead to plenty of improvement this winter.
"This is our second game, we hadn't had any scrimmages," said Bowman, whose team hosts Saddle River on December 10 before playing at Rutgers Prep on December 11. "I'll take it. The kids play hard for me and they don't give up. That will pay off in the end."
PDS should have the stamina to execute that blueprint. "I can tell you that the guys worked hard this summer," maintained El-Nokali. "They know what I expect and they put a lot into it. We've really been working on our conditioning."
After last winter's magic, the Panthers hope to be conditioned for more success in the season ahead.
