LIVINGSTON- Jaden Simon has a well-grounded point of view when it comes to assessing the current situation revolving around his current Newark Academy basketball team in contrast to last season’s much more experienced squad which put together a solid 10-3 record for a second-place finish in the Super Essex Conference-Freedom Division.
After all, the 6-foot-1 senior swingman and junior Zach Shirodkar are the only two returning starters from that 14-10 squad which also captured the program’s first state prep B-Division Tournament title since 2004.
In Monday’s SEC-Freedom Division clash at Newark Academy, the Minutemen (4-5, 3-1) took on the same team they had faced in last year’s prep b final, longtime private school rival Montclair Kimberley Academy (1-7, 0-5), which has also had to reload after being hit hard by graduation from last season’s now 2-time defending SEC-Freedom Division champs.
And, while the Minutemen held a seemingly comfortable 45-36 lead with 4:02 remaining, they had to hang on for dear life as MKA, boosted by a 13-point fourth quarter outburst from sophomore Khalil Shah-Brown, rallied to make it a 1-possession game three different times in the final two minutes before Newark Academy was able to earn a hard-fought 52-50 victory.
“This season is all about continuing to progress after we lost a lot of seniors who were really the anchors of last year’s team,” said Jaden Simon, who scored a game-high 20 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. “I’m trying to help lead as one of the few seniors this season, but it’s really about the young guys stepping up so that everybody contributes to the wins.”
One of those youngsters definitely stepping up on Monday was Jaden’s younger brother, 6-1 freshman Jared Simon, who came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points, including a key inside move to give his team a 47-43 lead with 1:43 remaining.
“We had our share of mistakes out there, but It’s all about hustle and playing with a fierce mentality,” said the younger Simon. “MKA was tough today, but we showed them what NA is all about and we came away with the win.”
A pair of clutch free throws by senior reserve Saul Brauns with 19.6 seconds left gave the Minutemen a 51-46 lead which was big because Shah-Brown sank his second ‘trifecta’ in the final minute to make it 51-49 with 4.6 seconds left.
Shirodkar (8 points, 8 rebounds) sank a free throw to bring the lead back to three, 52-49 with 2.4 seconds left and Shah-Brown, who was fouled on the inbounds with one second left, made his first free throw and then missed the second attempt on purpose as the ball bounced hard off the rim for a rebound as time expired.
Newark Academy started two freshmen vs. MKA in hustling point guard Gabe O’Brien (4 points, 6 assists) and the athletic forward Avery Sampson, while Jared Simon was the third freshman who impacts among the Minutemen’s first eight players.
MKA, behind the guidance of longtime coach Tony Jones, returns just one starter in senior forward Van Girton Marshall (12 points, 7 rebounds) and started two freshmen at NA in Carter Convey and Braeden Dawes along with an impressive 6-2 sophomore Joe Morante, who had a superb day from the perimeter with four of the Cougars’ nine made 3’s while finishing with 16 points.
“We’re young just like Tony has a young team,” said Newark Academy second-year head coach Dan Petrillo, a 2006 NA graduate and former basketball and baseball standout at his high school alma mater.
“He’s a really good coach who has been doing it for a long time (25 years) and has a little more patience than I do and I have to learn to be more patient with our young players.
“We need to tighten up some things, look sharper and not throw it away as much as we did today by taking better care of the ball, but a lot of that is young mistakes and we’ll get better.
