(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Bobby Davison makes a point last winter in his role as an assistant coach with the Princeton High boys’ basketball team. This summer, Davison, a former PHS hoops star, has guided the Princeton Basketball Club’s U-16 AAU team to a spot in the AAU National Championships. The competition will take place at the Disney Complex in Orlando, Fla. from July 24-30. The PBC’s U-14 Black and U-13 teams will compete in the Nationals at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, Va. from July 22-25.

With 3 Squads Heading to AAU Nationals, Princeton Basketball Club Showing Growth

Bill Alden

When some of the young basketball players in Princeton decided that they wanted to get more serious about their game, Clarence White took action.

White, the travel basketball supervisor for the Princeton Recreation Department, combined with Mike Finnen, the parent of one of the ambitious hoops players, to form the Princeton Basketball Club (PBC) in the spring of 2007.

“The kids wanted to play more,” recalled White. “We have the Dillon League and travel basketball. But the competition level by the time they get to high school is tougher and they weren’t up to snuff in terms of playing tougher competition. Ben Stentz (a Rec Department Program Supervisor) suggested that we get an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) team together and Mike Finnen did the legwork.”

Next week, the PBC’s U-16 squad will face some of the stiffest competition in the country as it heads to the Disney Complex in Orlando, Fla. to play in the AAU National Championships from July 24-30.

The team has gone 15-2 this season and qualified as a seeded team for the national tournament by placing second in the New Jersey Division Two state tournament.

As a result of the U-16 team’s success, the PBC’s U-14 Black and U-13 teams have also been invited to play in the Nationals at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, Va. from July 22-25.

When the U-16 team started play in the spring of 2007, it didn’t seem to be on track to end up in any national competition.

“They were taking their lumps at the start,” said White, noting that the PBC teams compete in AAU tournaments just about every weekend in the spring, playing mainly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. “They were losing by 30 or 40 points. They didn’t get out of pool play in the AAU district tournament.

The PBC’s senior team had a breakthrough last year. “We started to see progress,” said White. “They got out of the pool and made the quarterfinals. They could have gone to the nationals but it was a bit of a surprise and they were not prepared to go on short notice.”

White credits former PHS hoops star and current Little Tiger assistant coach Bobby Davison with playing a key role in the U-16 team’s turnaround.

“I coached the team when they were in eighth grade and turned them over to Bobby when they got to high school,” said White, noting that he had coached Davison when he was an up and coming player on the courts of Princeton.

“He has been invaluable. He is the link between PBC and the high school. I am really proud of him. He is a natural; he has a great rapport with the kids.”

Davison made an immediate impact from the day he took the helm of the team.

“The first game that I coached, the parents were saying it’s going to be tough, we are used to losing games,” recalled Davison, who went on to star at The College of New Jersey after his PHS career. “We went down to Trenton and won. They were really shocked and from there it snowballed.”

Davison’s role as an assistant coach at PHS has helped him get the most out of the PBC U-16 team.

“I work with a lot of these guys during the school year coaching them,” said Davison. “I instill in them the hard work and what it is going to take for them to get be an elite program. This year, we worked really hard and I think piggybacked off the success we had during the school year.”

The team’s workmanlike attitude has impressed Davison. “It is a real good group of kids; they just play the game hard,” said Davison, whose roster includes PHS students Ian Finnen, Davon Holliday-Black, Eric Shorter, Fernando Silva, Lior Levy, Scott Bechler, Matt Hoffman, Nathan File, and Michael Greenman along with Austin Hill from Hopewell Valley and Tommy Soulias from Spotswood.

“They don’t say anything; they just go out there and work hard. They are successful; it makes it easier to coach them.

While Davison acknowledges that the team will have to fight hard to have success against the tough competition it will face in Orlando, he is confident that its good chemistry will be a big asset.

“There are other teams down there with superstars,” said Davison. “Our guys have been successful and they play a lot of good teams around here but I think when they get down there and get to that level, it is going to be the best they have ever seen. I think the hard work we have done all winter and all spring is going to keep us together as a team and allow us to compete at that level down in Orlando.”

No matter what happens in Orlando, Davison believes the experience will benefit the players this winter and beyond.

“We are a group of guys from Princeton a small community up in the Northeast,” added Davison.

“We are going to be playing guys from all over the country. This is an opportunity that you will never forget. I think it is really going to help these guys springboard into the high school season coming up. The opportunity to be down in Disney with a group of guys and family doesn’t only help them with basketball, it is going to help them with other things later on.”

For White, the trip to Florida is the fruition of the vision that led to the creation of the PBC.

“They are more committed and it shows,” said White, who noted that the PBC’s effort has been aided by sponsors like the Bank of Princeton, Princeton Radiology, Princeton Orthopedics, American InfoService, and the Pine Brook Golf Club. “They have started to have some success. This is serious, they are saying ‘we like it’ and this is what they want.”

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