Jake McNish was given a reminder before his team faced Lyndhurst recently that the Weehawken head boys’ basketball coach needed just one more victory win to reach the impressive 100-win plateau in his career at the school. But that was about the extent of the fanfare. “I tried to keep the whole thing as low-key as possible,” McNish said. “I didn’t want the kids to know. I didn’t want them to feel any pressure, so I didn’t say anything.” McNish, who is in his sixth year as the head coach, didn’t utter a word prior to the game against Lyndhurst. “We had no idea,” said standout Chris Hernandez. “Nobody mentioned a thing about it. If we knew, we would have done something special.” However, soon after the Indians nailed down the impressive 61-27 victory, keeping an impressive winning streak intact, the word got out. One of the assistant coaches blurted out the news to the rest of the team. And the players responded the way they should – like joyous kids. “As soon as I knew, I said, ‘Let’s celebrate,’ ” Hernandez said. “We jumped on him,” said Chris Moran, the Indians’ leading scorer. “We threw ice on him, water, anything we could find. It was really a good feeling.” McNish said that he appreciated the kids’ reaction. “It really is a nice milestone and it was nice the way the kids responded,” said McNish, who was an assistant coach at Kearny, Bogota and Paterson Catholic before coming to Weehawken as an assistant eight years ago. “It’s a nice thing for me, but it’s all about the kids. They’re the ones who go out there and play. I don’t play.” McNish became only the third coach in the school’s history to win more than 100 games as a head basketball coach, joining Lester Purvere and Brian Long. The players seemed to be very pleased that they were able to get the milestone for their coach. “He’s a big part of the program, and we’re happy that we could do it for him,” said Moran, who has been averaging better than 18 points per game of late. “I think I feel happier for him than I do for anyone else. Anywhere we go, anytime, we represent him. It’s a good feeling.” “Coach McNish does a lot for us and puts himself out there for us,” Hernandez said. “It’s a very good feeling for us to get him there. I’ve been with him for three successful seasons and it means a lot to me that he got it.” McNish said that he feels good about his team’s performance of late. After struggling earlier in the year, the Indians have won seven straight games to get to 10-4. “I’m really happy right now with the way we’ve been playing,” McNish said. “We’re starting to come together right now. We lost a couple of games by a single point earlier, but now, we’re putting it all together at the right time. I still don’t think we’re playing our best basketball. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can continue to play well.” McNish said that he thinks he can get a better feel of his team in the upcoming weeks, when the Indians lock horns with Hudson County powerhouses Union Hill and Memorial. “Those games should be good tests,” McNish said. McNish still tried to downplay the entire event. “I’ve just been really blessed with some great players,” said McNish, whose record now stands at 103-35 over six seasons. “Fortunately for me, they’ve bought into what I tried to teach them. They had to be in school, to study and that they had to come to practice. That’s the thing I’m the most proud of, that they followed the rules. Getting 100 wins is nice, but building character and discipline is much more important. I take more pride in that than I do any win.”
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
