The Harford County boys basketball season has reached its halfway point and teams are beginning to separate from the rest of the pack.
Patterson Mill, Joppatowne, Edgewood and C. Milton Wright are jockeying for the top spot in the Chesapeake division, while a resurgent Fallston, led by a first-year coach, is atop the Susquehanna division. The Huskies are undefeated, the Rams topped the Mariners in the rivals’ first meeting this week, while the Mustangs are still “the cream of the crop,” one area coach said.
The Aegis recently spoke with four area boys basketball coaches — Patterson Mill’s Jeroud Clark, Edgewood’s Terry Maczko, Joppatowne’s Jon Stefanides and Fallston’s Mike Griffin — to get a sense of where the county stands entering the stretch run of the boys basketball season.
Where does your team stand coming out of winter break?
Clark: We’re battling. We’re still pretty young and trying to figure some things out. The kids are playing extremely, extremely hard.
Stefanides: We’re still kind of young, so we still make some young mistakes. Sometimes the moments are a little big for us, and we’re learning how to calm ourselves down. We’ve got some good wins under our belt, and then we got three losses. Two of the three losses are just brutal. We’ve beaten some good teams, it’s just a matter of having that confidence for 32 minutes.
Maczko: I’m pretty pleased with where we are. We’ve had a shot in every game. That’s pretty much all you can ask for.
What are you looking for from your team over the next month?
Stefanides: The season’s a long season and sometimes you have goals. The goal for us was county champions. Right now, it’s not looking too promising. We’ve got two county losses already and Patterson Mill doesn’t have any. We’re gonna need a good run.
Maczko: Next week we got Patterson Mill coming to our place. That’ll be a really good game. We’re going up to Elkton and then we got Joppatowne again. Three out of the next four games are gonna be pretty tough, so I think that’ll be a pretty good measuring stick of where we’re at for the season. If you look at the county, it’s Patterson Mill, C. Milton Wright, Joppatowne and us as kind of the four teams that I think have set themselves apart.
Griffin: Just to continue to play hard and have fun. We’re really coming together. I really like this team. We really have no ‘me’ kids. Everyone’s a team player. I did lose a kid — Shaughn Kelly got hurt in the Patterson Mill game, fractured a bone in his foot. He might be returning as early as February. We’ll get him back at some point. He’s a big part of our team.
Who on your team has surprised you the most so far?
Clark: We have a collective group that battles pretty hard. … Any given night, any one of our kids can be successful. Kai Gibson, Collin Luddy and James Hammond do a great job. James Cropp’s had a great season so far. Coale Washington has done a great job. On any given night, you get these great contributions.
Stefanides: There’s two guys that really jump out to me. Dartanun Blakeney, he’s just bringing so much energy to the game. But the big one is Braxton Jackson. This kid’s had probably five, six double-doubles already. You see the growth in him there.”
Griffin: Aiden Robinson has become more of a leader just by how we warm up and practice, going through drills, keeping all the kids focused and stuff like that. With Shaughn Kelly going down, Logan Sweitzer has now stepped into the starting role, and he’s been playing really, really well. He’s been stepping his game up a lot lately.
Maczko: Sean Kellum. I don’t know if he’s exceeded my expectations, I’ve had pretty high expectations of him. Him and Josh King are leading us in scoring.”
What matchup are you looking forward to most in the second half of the season?
Stefanides: I really look forward to seeing C. Milton Wright [Jan. 27]. That senior class was the last class that I was there. So Dylan [Sander] played for me. Jordan Ross played for me. I love seeing those guys. I want to compete against them one last time. Edgewood [Feb. 6], it’s a rival game, man. It doesn’t get better than that. Yeah, we lost, but the next time, you never know with a rival game how it’s going to play out.”
Maczko: Patterson Mill [Jan. 30], they’re a really good team. But for us, Joppatowne [Feb. 6] and Aberdeen [Feb. 3, Feb. 12] are always the big rival games.
What Harford County team has surprised you the most so far?
Clark: It’s not a county team, but Elkton. Some people may say North Harford. … The Elkton team, they lost a ton last year, and their new coach has done a tremendous job.
Stefanides: The team that surprised me, that I really enjoyed playing, was North Harford. I think Bill [Jones] is doing a great job up there. He’s got those kids motivated. They bought into it. They’re a real pleasant surprise.
Maczko: Joppatowne is a lot better than I thought they were going to be. They got a couple big kids and a couple really nice guards.
Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.
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