Despite his team’s lack of height, Kearny boys basketball coach Marc McCaffrey envisioned a group that could do things no Kardinals team has done in recent memory. Most notably winning a division title for the first time since 2016..
One month into the season, both goals remain in Kearny’s sight as the Kardinals find themselves tied with Lincoln for first place in the HCIAL National Division standings at 4-1.
“(Winning the division) is definitely something we’ve talked about and it’s one of the goals we set out in the beginning of the season,” said McCaffrey, in his second season as Kearny’s head coach. “And when we opened up with the win on opening day against McNair, it definitely made us realize that it was one of the goals we could reach.”
Overall, Kearny enters the second half of the season with a 6-5 record and has done so with a guard-heavy approach after graduating its three tallest players from a year ago.
Leading the way for Kearny has been breakout senior Will Souza, who is averaging 18.4 points per game this season after averaging 8.0 per game as a junior. Souza, who went off for 39 points in a recent win over Ferris, has proven to be a multi-level scorer and a threat whenever the ball is in his hand.
“I think he naturally had (that scorer’s mentality),” McCaffrey said. “I think as at the end of last season and then early this, he allowed the game to come to him.
“I have a tremendous amount of confidence in him. I have the ball in his hands quite a bit and he does get opportunities, but he’s not a selfish player, he’s willing to pass. But when the shots are there, he’s very skilled and more times than not, I think he’s going to make the shot.”
Souza shares the primary ball-handling responsibilities with senior Kevin McKenna, who averages 7.3 points per game, but brings contributions that go far beyond scoring.
“Kevin is probably my consistent player. He handles the ball, he scores when he needs to, he gets rebounds,” said McCaffrey. “He’s one of the smarter defenders we have on the team. He covers a lot of area in the zone defense. He’s just a smart basketball player.”
Luis Rodriguez is a 5-foot-11 senior wing, who is also capable of carrying the load offensively, as evidenced by his 23 points in that season-opening win over McNair. The three-year starter is averaging 11.6 points per game and leads the team with 23 3-pointers.
Another starter on the wing is 6-foot-0 senior Chris Ruiz, who McCaffrey called “one of our better defenders.”
Six-foot-one junior Caleb Baptista is Kearny’s de-facto big man, but despite giving up height in just about every matchup, is willing to mix it up in the paint and on the glass for the Kardinals.
Senior forward Jonah Menendez and junior guard Carlos Vazquez have been the top two off the bench in recent games for Kearny.
Sophomore Colin McKenna has provided quality minutes off the bench at guard. Juniors Shaheed Lahlou and Allen Rivera, and sophomore Joshua Barreto bring added depth up front.
Kearny returns to action with an independent game at American History on Tuesday, then a division matchup at Beloved Charter.
After that, follows arguably the biggest test of Kearny’s season, a four game, six day stretch, which starts at North Bergen on Saturday. Then after a Jan 27 contest with Morris Hills, the Kardinals have critical HCIAL National Division showdowns at McNair and home to Ferris.
A good performance in these games will be critical in Kearny’s attempt to qualify for the state tournament for the first time since 2017. Kearny currently sits in 14th in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 Power Points standings.
“They’re definitely aware of it. I know they’ve brought it up to me,” McCaffrey said. “We don’t dwell on it. I try to keep them focused on one game at a time, but it’s definitely something that is in the back of everybody’s head and we’re aware that it hasn’t happened in a while and we would like to get that done.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)