After defeating Master’s Academy, 67-46, and Florida Prep, 52-38, at home last week, St. Ed’s varsity boys basketball team was undefeated at 4-0 in FHSAA District 12-2A, and stood at 9-8 overall. The Pirates will tip off against the only two remaining district rivals this week and will be favored to win both.
In the interim, the SSAC postseason tournament began this past weekend in Winter Haven. The champion will be determined Feb. 1. Games are piling up with the conclusion of the regular season intertwined with the SSAC tournament. The district tournament will commence Feb. 10 with St. Ed’s as the host school.
“The team has made a lot of strides since the beginning of the year,” head coach Greg Zugrave told us. “We got off to a fairly nice start and have a number of very talented players, but the limited time they played varsity basketball together was something we struggled with throughout the season.
“We are still learning and growing as a team and I think we have gotten better in just about every game. I’m so proud of them for that.”
Six players share the bulk of the playing time. The leading scorers are AJ Jennings (12.6) and Connor Wolfe (12.5). They are supported by Ty Redmon (6.4), D’Angelo Lumenes (6.1), Mac Carnell (4.4) and Sam Toomey (3.5). Rebounding is a group effort for this perimeter-oriented team.
“AJ and Connor make up our backcourt,” Zugrave explained. “Connor is a good shooter and AJ is really the guy who controls the game for us. Together they log a lot of minutes and they have done a really nice job of putting up points and controlling the tempo.”
The duo can also fire away from long distance. They hover around 30 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Through 17 games Wolfe drained 31 threes, Jennings 16.
“Ty and D’Angelo do a lot of different things for us, everything from rebounding, to playing defense, to making plays in transition,” Zugrave continued. “We count on those two guys, along with Mac and Sam, to be out on the floor a lot and contribute in every way they can.
“Even though we have a number of upperclassmen, many of them, especially our juniors, have not played a lot of varsity minutes prior to this season. Ty and Mac are seniors, but I still feel that we were an inexperienced team in that regard when the season began. The hope was to keep this thing building as the season progressed, and I believe we have done that.”
More valuable experience is on the way soon. The Pirates are about to find out where they stand in a pair of postseason tournaments, where the nervous energy is always a tad higher.
“The SSAC is an exciting league with teams from all over the state,” Zugrave said. “We have always found it a good way to prepare for the FHSAA district tournament. The experience is especially valuable for a team like ours.
“The FHSAA has a different playoff format this year. You are not required to play every team in your district, and you are seeded in the tournament based on your ranking by Max Preps. For us it was a welcome change, because it allowed us to schedule games with like-minded schools that were a little closer. So I applaud the FHSAA for these changes.”
Cutting down on travel time always helps, but a high seed in the district playoffs seems guaranteed however you slice it. Trying to eliminate any doubt, the Pirates currently have the best record and highest ranking.
With the season rapidly drawing to a close, Zugrave is currently well north of 100 wins in an objectively productive tenure at St. Ed’s. And the coach cites more than the record in any assessment.
He said, “I’ve had 20-win seasons and 20-loss seasons. This is my ninth year, so we’ve been through the ups-and-downs. But I think we’re still solid. In all nine years we’ve had a lot of kids who wanted to play basketball. Obviously in some years we had more talent than others. But year in and year out we have great kids to work with. They are always willing to listen and learn.
“I still enjoy coming out here and running practices. It’s really exciting to be in the gym with them this time of the year. It’s always been a part of my life. I can’t imagine not doing it.”
