Don't look now, but here come the Colts
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

The Christian Brothers Academy basketball team found itself in a rather unfamiliar position coming into this week.

The Colts, a perennial Shore Conference and state powerhouse that lost only two games last season and just five the past two years, took a 6-3 record into Monday's game at Marlboro.

But while many might be surprised by CBA's slow start out of the gate, one person who isn't is veteran head coach Ed Wicelinski.

"People get a bit spoiled," Wicelinski, now in his 27th season, said. "Last year we were 27-2 and the year before we were 26-3. So when we lose a couple of games early, everyone panics.

"But our schedule, if it's not the toughest in the Shore Conference, it's one of the toughest," he added. "Plus we lost 70 percent of our offense from last season and 70 percent of our rebounding. We lost an All-American and we lost the guy we went to at the end of every game. That's an awful lot to replace."

The All-American CBA bid farewell to is Dan Werner, now a freshman playing for defending national champion Florida.

"He played everywhere for us," Wicelinski said. "He was a 6-8 forward/guard. He was our go-to guy.

"We also lost a 6-9 kid [Tim Andre] who made it as a walk-on at Notre Dame, and we lost another forward [Craig Woehnker] who's a scholarship player at Division II Merrimack College [North Andover, Mass.]. So we had to replace three kids who basically started for two years. Two are playing Division I and the other is a Division II scholarship player.

"It's hard to replace that kind of skill and talent quickly."

Powered by that trio, the Colts won the Shore Conference and the South Jersey Parochial A championships each of the last two years, while losing to Seton Hall Prep in the NJSIAA Non-Public A state final both years.

The senior backcourt of Derek Becker and Spencer Van Wagoner are the only two starters back from last year's team. Two more guards, senior Will Grier and junior Mike Kuhn, both of whom saw a lot of time coming off the bench, are also back.

"They are four people who came back with considerable experience, and that's it," Wicelinski said. "Even though some of the other players on this year's team are letter winners, they're all brand new."

That kind of varsity inexperience combined with a difficult schedule saw CBA get off to a 1-2 start. But the Colts have bounced back to win five of their last six games, including two of three in the prestigious Piggly Wiggly Roundball Classic, a national tournament, held in Charleston, S.C., over Christmas vacation.

"I knew it would take the kids we had time to work out their roles and know who was doing what. But they're starting to come around," Wicelinski said.

"The trip to South Carolina at Christmas was excellent for our team. We played a very good team from Georgia that was 9-1 at the time and we were 2-2, and we beat them. Then in the second round we played a team from Wisconsin that was 12-1 and one of the best teams in Wisconsin, and we beat them to get to the finals. So we had two pretty good games.

"And we lost a close game in the finals to Seton Hall."

It was a rematch of the last two state championship games, only this time two teams from New Jersey traveled to South Carolina to play. The result, however, was the same with unbeaten SHP beating CBA 51-43.

The Colts didn't waste any time getting back on track, winning both their league games last week - 59-31 over Middletown North on Thursday and 35-22 over Middletown South on Saturday - to raise their Shore Conference record to 3-2, and 6-3 overall.

Don't look now, but all of a sudden the CBA basketball team that struggled early in the season is back playing at a high level.

"Everyone just had to figure out what their roles were," Wicelinski said. "That's why you have early-season games. So you can work it all out.

"So it was not a surprise to me that it took time for us to start playing well. Every practice and every game we continued to get better, our confidence level went up, and the kids got more comfortable with one another. Even the coaches got more comfortable. We had to figure out who was going to do what. Last year it was easy. We knew exactly who to go to."

This season, however, the Colts have been getting contributions from a number of players.

One such player is small forward Justin Schwartz, who "was hurt twice last year or he would've played a lot more," Wicelinski noted. "He lost a lot to injury time."

But Schwartz is healthy this year and had nine points in the low-scoring victory over Middletown South. Only Van Wagoner with 10 points scored more for the Colts.

Then there's sophomore guard Brian Neller, last year's top JV player as only a freshman. He's had some big games so far this season, including a game-high 19 points in the win over Middletown North.

"He's doing really well," Wicelinski said.

Senior forwards Matt Somerville and Brian Roscitt have also been playing well, as has junior forward John Planer coming off the bench. Against Middletown North he had seven rebounds and four assists.

Senior guard Ryan Seuffett also contributed off the bench against Middletown North by scoring 10 points. Junior guard Dallas Ouano gives the Colts even more depth, especially in their backcourt.

"We've gone from a team that was dominated by forwards to a guard-oriented team," the CBA coach pointed out. "We can go nine or 10 deep this season, depending on the style of play and who's playing well today. We have so many interchangeable parts. They understand on different days they have different roles, and hopefully a chance to step up.

"We've gone from a team that was led by someone [Werner] who was voted the best player in the tristate area to a team where on any given day any player can step up and win a game for us."

The Colts hope that trend continues this week when they host Manalapan Thursday at 4 p.m., and then on Saturday when they face unbeaten Linden, one of the top teams in New Jersey, at the Convention Center in Asbury Park in another 4 p.m. start.