Before the current season even began, Maria West had a clear-cut set of goals in her mind.
Honesdale’s freshmen boys basketball coach believes that the Hornets are headed in the right direction. However, the next logical step in becoming an elite program is beating the Abingtons, Preps and Scrantons of the world.
The plan is simple in its design, but grand in scale.
Anyone can say they want to beat the Lackawanna League’s top teams, but it’s another thing entirely to step out on the court and actually do it.
During first half action this season, West’s Hornets did in fact take that first step toward becoming an elite program.
Honesdale opened the current hoops campaign with four straight wins...including a wild 49-48 victory over Scranton in the Electric City.
“I’m so proud of these kids,” Coach West told TWI Sports of this monumental victory. “We only have eight players on the entire team, so for us to beat a team like Scranton in their own gym...well, that’s huge.”
This past week, Honesdale closed out its first half Lackawanna League schedule with another big win. The Hornets staged a wild fourth quarter rally to defeat Paupack.
The final score was 45-39.
With that victory, the Red & Black finished the first half at 5-2. Coach West’s lads are now 10-2 overall.
Honesdale’s next challenge comes this weekend. The Hornets journey to Prep on Saturday to battle the Cavaliers.
These two teams met earlier in the season and the Hornets gave the Cavs a run for their money. The Red & Black trailed by just one point after three periods, but eventually suffered a disappointing 45-36 loss.
“It’s one of those games we have to win if we want to take the next step,” said Coach West. “I think we’re ready.”
Knights Vanquished
Honesdale used a combination of pressure defense and balanced scoring to deal Scran-ton a 49-48 loss.
Kevin Miller and Chris Nagel led the offensive attack.
Miller is still just an eighth grader, but he’s already a two-year starter on the freshmen squad. Kevin scored 12 points against Scranton, half of which came on a pair of key treys.
“Kevin is a quiet leader on the court,” said Coach West. “He leads by example and he’s going to be a very good varsity player someday.”
Nagel also scored 12 points and hauled down six boards.
