Despite the season having a slow start, the Steinert Boys Basketball team has been strongly fighting past all of the obstacles that come their way. The program’s coaches, Mr. Flanagan (Varsity), Mr. Richards (Junior Varsity), and Mr. Monstrangeli (Freshman), have been guiding the boys in strategies, sportsmanship, and skills, as well as their personal lives. They have been working hard as they practice the fundamentals of the sport. With every game, the boys display their ability to not only play as a team but as a family.

On December 17th, the boys had their first win against Maple Shade, 79-42. The team collectively made twelve 3-pointers and senior Corey Wassall made 23 points. 

On January 7th, junior Joe Lee hit a game-winner against Monmouth Regional after coming off the bench, leading the boys to their second win of the season by a score of 35-33. 

On January 16, the boys won their third game against Kennedy Memorial by a score of 46-37. Sophomore Remy Feniello had a total of 10 points and 16 rebounds. 

The boys won their home game against West Windsor-Plainsboro North on January 19th, 57-55. Junior Avery Cannato and sophomore Mason Grant both made 11 points. Grant also grabbed 10 rebounds. 

“Our team is pretty strong in the fact that we can go deep into our bench and still try and compete with our opponent,” the team’s leading scorer, senior Corey Wassall, commented on the team’s performance so far in the season. “My highlights of this season so far are the couple of wins we got as a team and all the times we stepped on the court and fought hard together.” 

Being the only senior playing for the rest of the season, he just wants to set a good example for his teammates and help lead the team to as many wins as they can get. “With the time remaining, I don’t have any personal goals that I want to achieve besides winning as a team.” Wassall doesn’t plan to continue to play basketball in college, but he cherishes all four years that he has played at Steinert. “I want us to continue to get as many wins as we can and hope to make MCTs and try to go as far as we can in both MCTs and States.” 

Coach Flanagan expressed that the team has leaned on Wassall in many roles. He has remained patient and flexible throughout the season, and while he might have his own goals for his last season playing highschool basketball, he is not willing to put those before the team.

“We are seeing growth even though it is sometimes not reflective in the win column,”

said Coach Kyle Flanagan. 

The team lost eight seniors last year to graduation that played a bulk of the minutes. This year, three seniors were on the team, but due to injuries and personal issues, only one senior will be playing for the time remaining in the season. The majority of the boys that are playing on varsity are sophomores and juniors. 

At the start of the season, they were getting used to the speed of the game, but now that they are a bit past mid-season, they are showing vast improvement. Coach Flanagan stated that “It was just the growing pains of any team making the jump from junior varsity to varsity.”

Being in an area that has a strong conference, the boys have a tough and competitive matchup. Most of the teams in the conference have returning players that played last year. Although it is challenging right now to be up against experienced opponents, the boys are getting a lot of exposure playing with different teams, heights, sizes, and skill sets. 

The team’s motto this year is “1% better.” Everyday, there is a new team, new task, new style of play that the boys are up against, and everyday they are getting 1% better than the day before. With the remaining time in the season, the boys strive to finish strong and get through all of the challenges to reach victory. Coach Flanagan believes, “It’s never that bad, never too big to overcome.”