There was a time when seeing Marist atop the HCIAA boys’ basketball standings would not have been such a surprise.
After all, the Royal Knights were the team of the 1990s, winning the HCIAA championship seven times in the decade. All totaled, Marist captured eight county championships in an 11-year reign of terror. They were clearly the dynasty of the league. They won the NJSIAA Parochial B state title in 1992, actually defeating St. Anthony in the sectional final at St. Peter’s, and faced Shawnee in the Meadowlands in the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions finale.
But the well has run dry since Marist last won a county title back in 1999. The days when coach Mike Leonardo had an endless array of point guards coming from Guttenberg and sharpshooters coming from Bergen-Lafayette in Jersey City are part of ancient history. The banners those teams collected are fading in color as they hang in the gym of the school on the Jersey City/Bayonne border.
There were a handful of coaches who came and went after Leonardo moved on to Sayreville High School and became a vice principal there. None ever came close to reaching the success he had. Chris Chevannes won one title in 1999, but he was quickly dispatched when it was learned there were recruiting irregularities. The well had seemed to run dry.
Enter Vernon Freeland. The energetic coach arrived six years ago with the hope of putting Marist back on the local map – and possibly the state spectrum – once again. Freeland had some limited success over the first five years, including last year, when the Royal Knights were 15-10 and won their first game in the state tournament, shocking Immaculata in Parochial A, before giving perennial state power Bergen Catholic all it could handle in the sectional quarterfinals.
After achieving the success a year ago, Freeland truly believed that the Royal Knights would be vastly improved this season.
“We had the majority of last year’s team coming back, so we expected to be in the mix,” Freeland said. “We wanted to be near the top of the league [HCIAA Coviello] standings. We thought we could compete. But in our league, anything can happen. We point to that every day. We point to teams beating teams that they shouldn’t. Go around the league and you’ll see that. There are no sure things.”
However, as the 2008 calendar is ready to flip its first page later this week, one team sits atop the HCIAA Coviello standings all by itself.
That’s right, the Royal Knights of Marist. Call it a return to glory, only a decade in waiting. After defeating Dickinson Monday, the Royal Knights are 9-2 overall and 6-1 in the HCIAA. The rest of the league is looking up at them. It has to be the biggest surprise in a season of surprises in local high school basketball.
“It is really a little amazing,” Freeland said. “We thought if we got off to a good start, we could be right there. The kids play well together and they play well as a team. I think that’s the key. The kids really feed off each other and there is no real star.”
Well, in reality, there is one star – and he has the most appropriate name for a basketball player perhaps in the history of Hudson County basketball.
Demetrius Boards is the senior leader of the Marist basketball team. And what does Boards do best? He collects boards, as in rebounds. He’s a regular rebounding machine.
“He’s our leader,” Freeland said of the 6-foot-5-inch Boards, who is averaging 18 points and 12, er, boards per game. “It is ironic that he has such a perfect last name. We joke about that, Boards getting boards, but that’s what he does, with no pun intended. He goes after the boards. He attacks the backboard. He is real determined and intense. It makes sense that he has that name, because you can’t make things like that up.”
Boards has been garnering attention from college recruiters as well, not just because he has a catchy name.
“He is definitely a college player,” Freeland said. “He’s getting some looks from [NCAA] Division 2 schools and has a plethora of D-III schools after him. He’s a good student and he will qualify [earning academic eligibility to play as a freshman]. He has a bright future.”
The Royal Knights are definitely senior dominated, with seven of the top eight players being in their final year, so this was a team that was three years in the making.
“These kids have been together for a while,” Freeland said. “They know what to expect.”
Another key player has been Jawan Carson, who has been previously best known for his football prowess. The 5-foot-11 Carson, who will definitely receive a football scholarship, more than likely as a defensive back, has injected some of this athleticism to the Royal Knights’ basketball team.
“Jawan is just a spectacular athlete,” Freeland said of Carson, who is averaging about 14 points per game. “He brings his football expertise to the court. He brings the same skills, speed and quickness. He brings a bunch of intangibles to us off the bench, ingredients that we don’t normally have. He comes off the bench and changes the speed of the game.”
Freeland said that Carson was all set to be a member of the Royal Knights’ hoop squad last year, but a knee injury suffered during the football season kept him on the sidelines all season.
“I wasn’t sure if he was coming back this year or whether he was going to concentrate on football,” Freeland said. “He’s been a huge addition.”
Senior Dorian Best returns from last year’s team. The 6-foot-2 Best averaged just under double figures last year, and he’s contributing more this time around.
“He’s doing much better this year,” Freeland said of Best, who missed the last eight games last season due to injury. “If we can keep him healthy this year, he can do some big things.”
Senior Tyrell Jackson is a 6-foot-3 power forward who also does yeoman work around the basket. Jackson had 20 rebounds in a recent win over Snyder.
Then there are the Williams twins, seniors Eddie and Gary, who are two totally different players. They’re both 6-foot-2 guards, but Eddie is more of a scorer who led the Knights in scoring in the Snyder win and Gary is the team’s defensive stopper who draws the assignment of trying to stop the opposing team’s best player night after night.
“I call Gary my energy guy, because he energizes us,” Freeland said.
Senior Terrill Moore-Sims transferred to Marist when St. Aloysius High School closed last June. Moore-Sims is a standout defensive player.
Senior Edrie Brodie is another key bench player, but the real contribution off the bench has come from sophomore Chris Burke, who has a world of potential and possibility.
“Chris has been tremendous,” Freeland said. “He’s 6-4, but he has guard skills. He can shoot the 3-pointer and is probably our best from out there. He has more of a perimeter game.”
Freeland doesn’t want to get caught up in the Royal Knights’ success. A few years ago, the team had a 9-1 record, and then fell flat. He doesn’t want a repeat performance.
“I’m walking on egg shells a little,” Freeland said. “We’ve been down this road before. But I have to say we’re a surprise. No one expected us to be where we are. The other teams who were expected are still right there. No one has won anything yet. But it’s a good feeling to be where we are.”
Incredibly, the team atop the HCIAA Coviello girls’ standings happens to be Marist as well. It’s the first time ever that both the boys and the girls occupy first place in the league at the same time. Maybe it’s really a return to glory for Marist hoops.