The Rancocas Valley Varsity Boys Basketball team begins the 2024-2025 season with a 56-point blowout victory at home as they hosted Camden Academy Charter. In a game seemingly over within the opening minutes, the Red Devils showed tremendous effort and discipline on both sides of the ball.
Last season, the Red Devils were just above .500 with a final overall record of 16-13. In the Burlington County Tournament, they reached the championship round, where they lost by just 3 points at Lenape. In the NJSIAA playoffs, they defeated Pennsauken at home, advancing them to the quarterfinals, where they went on to lose to Central Regional on the road. In the last two consecutive seasons, Rancocas Valley faced off against Camden in their season openers, both of which they lost. This season contrarily, the Red Devils annihilated their opening night opponent in Camden Academy Charter, scoring 83 points and holding Camden Academy to a mere 27 throughout 4 quarters. Rancocas Valley, who scored 29 points in the first quarter alone, scored the most total points in a game since December of 2015, when they scored 98 points in a 1 point road victory against Medford Tech.
One of the more impressive aspects of this blowout victory was not the fact that they were able to put points on the board with ease, but that they were able to do so by getting everybody on the court involved. Of the 11 players who played, 9 scored at least once and 5 players ended the game in double digits. Senior Guard Montre Wilson led the team with 17 points and senior Guard Mike Phinisee scored the second most with 14.
Though they both led the team in scoring, they did much more than simply put the ball in the hoop. They set the tone for the game as soon as the ball was tipped, and their presence was felt as they often led the full-court presses. In the first quarter especially, it seemed that Camden Academy’s offense couldn’t advance the ball past half-court because every time they got close either Wilson or Phinisee would be there to strip the ball from the handler, finish at the basket, and immediately get back into a defensive stance.
The best part about it was even when they were up by 30 points, they still gave maximum effort on the defensive end, applying full-court pressure throughout the entire first half. They didn’t seem to even move their feet a little bit off the gas until the third quarter when they were up by at least 40 points.
Junior Forward Josh Swain electrified the semi-bored of-success crowd as he rocked the rim on two separate occasions, and senior Center Harshpreet Singh had the same effect on the crowd with his two enormous blocks.
In a pregame interview with RVTV’s Jon Sharpe, Mike Phinisee emphasized winning as a team while simultaneously having fun; “I want everyone to have fun but I also want to win, we have a great team and great coaching around us to have that ability to go out and win.” The star guard also stated that the team “should have a dominant win,” and would “play together.”
Senior Forward Reily Kern had a similar tone heading into the game, stating that the team simply needed to “play defense, move the ball, talk, [and] play our hearts out.” Finally, very bluntly, senior Center Harshpreet Singh claimed that the Red Devils were “probably going to blow them out.”
Tomorrow night, December 17, the Rancocas Valley Red Devils will host Camden Catholic in their first game of the season, and what will be the back end of the Red Devils’ first back-to-back of the two they will have throughout the season.
