Feb. 7, 2025
By Joseph Brennen
Staff Writer
With three more regular season games remaining, the boys basketball team is aiming to improve on its 14-9 record as of Feb. 7.
After a rough start to the season, the team had a four-game winning streak against Newark Central, North Arlington, Secaucus and Harrison High Schools.
Senior forward Shawn Bellenger, who is in his third year on varsity, said experience is essential since the team lost eight players after last season, six of whom graduated. The team gained eight players this season.
“You have to make the right plays as a team to win the big games.”
“We just started a little slow because we didn’t have the experience like our team last year did,” Bellenger said. “Now that we’ve got more experience in big games, I think that definitely helped us improve, and I think that’s why we’re starting to win games now.”
Bellenger is one of two seniors on the roster. He said one of his objectives has been guiding his younger teammates.
“With a lot of young guys on the team, they can tend to get nervous or tend to lose focus in big situations, but I try to keep the focus of the team on that one goal of winning games,” Bellenger said.
He said he also encourages camaraderie among the players.
“We’ve hung out and we’ve [gone] out to eat… so I think the team bonding and chemistry has gotten a lot stronger throughout the season,” Bellenger said.
Head Coach Mosca, who is in his third year coaching the team, said he has emphasized teamwork throughout the season.
“When you play the good teams, you have to have teamwork, and that’s where we faltered last year,” Mosca said. “I’m trying to stress to the kids this year that you have to play as a team. You have to make the right plays as a team to win the big games.”
He said he values the athletes’ hard work.
“Our toughness and hustle during the season so far has been a plus,” Mosca said. “Offensively, our guard play has been really good.”
The team is led by junior point guard Johnny Chaname, who plays with freshmen guards Avery Cano and Filoteo Mosca.
Head Coach Mosca said having young players on varsity will help the team in the future.
“Overall, we’re getting better, and I think it’s only going to help us for the next couple of years,” Mosca said.
Junior center Daniel Bojilov, who is in his second year on varsity, said having strong starts to games helped the team make a comeback as the season progressed.
“Our key factor to [success] was our energy starting off the game,” Bojilov said, referring to the team’s away victory against Weehawken High School on Jan. 17. “We started the game off with high intensity and outworked the team.”
Bojilov said focusing on the technical aspects of the sport has helped the team.
“Our three-point shooting percentage has been good throughout our last games, and our defense and ball movement [have] slowly been coming together,” Bojilov said.
He said teamwork is essential to closing out the season strong.
“Improving the ability to work together as a team and motivate each other [is a] crucial skill for a better [outcome] going forward,” said Bojilov.
Correction: The print edition of this article indicated that there is one game left in the regular season. In fact, there are three regular season games remaining.
