VIDEO: Attention to defense, effort helps Crusaders make recent surge

Posted: January 1st 1970

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Those inside the Wildwood Catholic Academy boys basketball program probably didn’t enjoy the New Year’s holiday very much.

The day before, the players and coaches trudged out of the Wildwoods Convention Center following a 57-52 defeat to local rival Lower Cape May in the Boardwalk Basketball Classic, the team having fallen to 2-5 on the season after the loss. The Crusaders dropped all three of their games in the tournament despite holding leads in the second halves of all three of them.

They looked demoralized as they exited the facility.

Less than two weeks later, though, Wildwood Catholic suddenly looks like a team not many opponents would want to face.

The Crusaders won three of four games before Thursday’s 72-57 defeat in a non-league game to College Achieve Charter, a newly formed school in Central Jersey featuring a team with a roster full of college prospects of varying levels.

“The turnovers and the shooting definitely jumped out but the biggest thing was, we were more so unhappy with the defensive effort as a whole coming out of the Boardwalk Classic,” Wildwood Catholic coach Will Wareham said.

Three days after the loss to Lower Cape May, Wildwood Catholic went on the road and limited St. Joseph to just 10 points in the first half of what became an eventual 60-38 victory The Crusaders since added wins of 68-55 over Egg Harbor Township and 47-33 over Millville after a 65-40 loss to Middle Township.

“Our practices the last two weeks have revolved around defense,” Wareham said. “We really wanted to focus on that. Everyone naturally gears up to play offense but defensively we were not as good as we wanted to be, so we’ve really worked on it and it’s helped.”

Wildwood Catholic has also gotten a boost with improved depth in its lineup. Junior Ryan McGrath joined the lineup for the first time this season for the win over EHT after dealing with an illness. And senior Kyelle Ruiz also recently joined the lineup after becoming eligible following a transfer from Vineland.

“That’s definitely helped,” Wareham said. “It’s helped us run our stuff better because there’s a little more floor spacing. It’s also taken some pressure off (point guard) Charlie (Dunner).”

Wildwood Catholic has also received better scoring balance. Junior Tayshaun Jackson led the team in scoring against College Achieve with 20 points. Dunner scored 20 points in the win over Millville. Sophomore Alex Daniel had 22 points in the victory over EHT. Senior Pat Bean has scored in double figures three times in the last five games.

“We started building it right from the first practice after the Christmas tournament,” Wareham said. “We just wanted to compete as hard as we could for as long as we could. And we tell the kids when they go in the game to go as hard as they can for as long as they can and we’ll go from there.”

Against College Achieve Charter, Wildwood Catholic trailed by just two points at one stage midway through the third quarter before the visitors’ size and athleticism eventually wore down the Crusaders.

“The thing I was most impressed with was that our guys didn’t back down,” Wareham said.” Obviously we knew going in that they were really good. But our guys kept going back at them.”

Wareham said he hopes the effort brought over the last couple of weeks continues, including in Thursday’s loss to a state power.

“I’m really, really happy with our effort,” he said. “If we do that every single night, I don’t think there’s anyone on our schedule we can’t be in a game with.”