Blues look to find their identity in early going
Brookdale picked to finish second in GSAC North Division
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

The Brookdale men’s basketball team is young and searching for an identity.

Head coach Paul Cisek has loaded up his non-Garden State Athletic Conference and Region XIX schedule so that his team will be prepared to make a run at a Region championship in late February when it’s tournament time.

The Blues are off to a solid start with a team that is starting three freshmen. As would be expected from a young team, inconsistency and mistakes have slowed the team down.

“We’ve not played as well as we’re capable of,” said Cisek. “We’re very athletic and we have some size. We’re young and we’re making young mistakes.

“We have all the pieces, it’s a matter of us jelling,” he added.

Cisek pointed to three factors for the slow start: first, turnovers; the team isn’t taking care of the ball well and that can be attributed to three new faces in the starting lineup and early-season injuries. Second, a lack of defensive rebounding. And finally, the team hasn’t gotten an identity yet.

One thing the Blues have done well is use their overall athleticism to play strong on the defensive end.

“We’re playing pretty good defense,” said Cisek. “I’m a man-to-man defensive guy and we’ve been able use traps out of it and play a little full-court.”

The foundation of the 2006-07 Jersey Blues is returning standout Jed Marquez (Jackson). An All-American candidate who was First Team All-Garden State Athletic Conference and All-Region XIX last year, the 6-2 guard does it all at both ends of the floor as a scorer and rebounder.

“He’s playing like an All-American,” said Cisek.

Derrick Truesdale (Passaic), a 6-3 forward, is the other sophomore in the starting lineup. The Blues look to him for defense and rebounding and an inside presence on offense.

Freshman John Guzman (Rutherford) is the starting point guard, and the other members of the freshman class in the starting lineup are forward Chris Brown (Newark Science), who at 6-5 is looked to to clean the glass, and slashing swing player Rashad Stephens (Passaic).

“We have good balance with our starting lineup and we have depth,” said Cisek.

Mike Doherty (Mater Dei) and Javonn McCluney (Hillside) are freshmen who are contributing and adding depth. Two other newcomers who have contributed to the team’s athleticism are 6-5 Owen McPherson (Franklin) and 6-6 Anthony Dunaway (Freehold Borough).

Two returners, Sean Carter (Freehold Borough) a 6-2 forward, and Kevin Fallon (Roselle Park), a 6-1 guard, have been injured and are just returning to the lineup. They had solid freshman seasons, and having them back will help the team jell and come up with an identity.

Freshman Thenegard Fils-Aime (Rahway), who can provide a scoring punch and another point guard to the team, has missed time with a broken finger.

Rounding out the 2006-07 Jersey Blues are guards Theo Fujita-Lukachyk (Middletown North), Leon Norman (Monmouth Regional) and Devin Parkins (Franklin).

Brookdale was picked to finish second behind Passaic in the GSAC North Division this winter. Cisek has set the bar high for the team and believes that the talent is there to be a serious contender not only for the GSAC, but the Region as well.

“I have very high expectations for this team,” he remarked. “It can win the Region if it wants to work for it.”

After hosting its Invitational this past weekend, the Blues are home for games with Union (Dec. 14, 7 p.m.) and Ocean (Dec. 16, 1 p.m.). Brookdale will close the year out in Florida in a tournament at Polk Community College.

The Blues’ next home game is not until Jan. 9 and it will be a big one, against preseason division pick Passaic, at 8 p.m.