Thursday, October 1, 2026
Defense is the way to go for head coach Jay Allen and the Sewanhaka boys basketball program. Entering this Friday’s game at Clarke with an 8-5 record, that is the golden detail of the Ravens. After that, it’s only upwards from there.
At large, the defensive numbers speak for themselves. The Ravens have held opponents’ combined field goal percentage to 29.%; broken apart it’s 32.4% from two and 24% from deep. Overall, they’ve allowed an average of 44 points per game, and caused an average of 16.5 turnovers.
“We feel like if we’re playing the game and [holding the opposing team] to 40s and 50s, then we have a really good chance to win,” Allen explained.
Looking internally, Sewanhaka has pulled down an average of 37.5 rebounds per game and posted 9.4 steals per game.
Lethal. The high rebounding can be explained by the two six-footers that Allen keeps in the high post, Senior Nehemy Fresnel and sophomore Nnamdi Amadike. So yes, they can keep a lid on the basket if they’re not busy cleaning up the boards.
Recent wins speak to that. A 44-40 win Jan. 14 over Carey proved as much. Fresnel had a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, half of his offense coming from three 3-pointers. Senior Dante Anderson posted 14 points, including two shots from long range, as well as four steals. Sophomore Lance Williams made himself known, earning a pair of visits to the charity stripe, picking up 4 of his 6 points there.
A unicorn of a player to keep an eye out for is Rohan Murphy. An eighth-grade point guard, Allen explained that Murphy is adapting his game to the speed and intensity of varsity at an impeccable rate.
There was also a 51-48 win over Division last Saturday, another example of how the defense was rolling. Williams was assigned Division’s leading scorer, Isaiah Faton, and Allen said that he kept him to five points below average. It was good enough to secure the win.
“We played pretty good defense on their best scorer, and we held him below his average, so that makes a huge difference as well,” Allen said. “[Williams’] defensive effort was tremendous, and without it, we wouldn’t have won.”
Offensively, Allen saw sparks of what he wanted.
“We had a great offensive game from two of our players, Dante Anderson had 26 points today, he played very well, especially in the first half,” Allen explained.
Senior Jayden Spaulding came off the bench and started at point guard against Division, but Anderson picked it up when the coaching staff realized that stimulated the offense more.
“It was really more of a point guard by committee type of action today,” Allen said after the game.
Fresnel poured in 17 points, including a pair of threes, in the effort as Sewanhaka improved to 4-3 in League 5.
“The guys really stepped it up on the offensive side and that was a big thing for us,” Allen said.
With such a steady defense, Allen looks to see this offense take off and blossom as the youthful Ravens gain experience.
“We’re super young,” he admitted. “I don’t know a lot of teams that have an eighth grader at their point guard position, and we knew there were going to be growing pains with that, but we’re basically making a five year commitment to this kid saying, ‘hey, we gotta figure it out.’”
