House Basketball Power Rankings: 11th and 12th Grade League

-By: Jack Rehm-
(with contributing writer Darius Majd)

The second week of House is starting to shake things up on the Middlesex court. Here is a look at the standings going into the holiday hoops season.

1. Mavericks- This team, led by mostly seniors, has met expectations as one of the teams to beat in the league this year with another 60 point scoring effort. This team has a solid player at every position with seniors Tyler Pruden at center, Rupert Hansford and Ricky Miller bringing the ball up, Parker Lange and Sam Nelson on the wings and Kevin Keller coming off the bench. However, despite all of this talent and offensive firepower, this team will not hold onto the top spot if they don't improve their league-worst defense.
(Record: 2-0, Last Result: W 60-52 vs. Celtics)

2. Thunder- Led by another dominating performance by junior Tony Britton, the Thunder handily beat the Trailblazers as Britton put up an eye-popping 32 points to outscore the other team by himself. While they may have beaten another lowly opponent in the Trailblazers, the Thunder proved once again their ability to score points and have now won their first two games by an average of 25 points. Elliott Helgans made his season debut and scored 10 points, adding another scoring option to an already high-powered offense. (Record: 2-0, Last Result: W 49-30 vs. Trailblazers)

3. Spurs- The Spurs have a lot to look forward to this season after comfortably beating the Nuggets this week, who are not as bad as their record says they are. The stifling Spurs defense held KLHT varsity captain Max Reyes to only 5 points and cut the Nuggets’ scoring in half from their first week of play. The senior connection of Graham Maybell to Ben Preston continues to work and this team could go far if senior Andrew Hurn continues to play at such a high level. More important is the offensive depth; junior Peter Barston and Fairfield Prep senior Ben Lowden (both scoreless entering the game) combined for 15 of the Spurs' 20 first half points against the Nuggets. (Record: 2-0, Last Result: W 35-29 vs. Nuggets)

4. Lakers- The Lakers followed up a solid 7 point win over the Celtics with a comfortable double-digit victory over the Rockets where junior Bobby Weaver showed his true potential by scoring a team-high 25 points coming off a game where he only put up 4. This team has a great balance of juniors and seniors who have proven that they can play well with each other with Chris Carmody leading at point guard and Weaver and Luke Osherow on the wings. Junior Mitchell Wisinski (pictured) threw in a surprising 10 points against the Rockets but supposed rookie phenom Alex Yergey was absent from his second consecutive game for undisclosed reasons.
(Record: 2-0, Last Result: W 48-33 vs. Rockets)

5. Timberwolves- The Timberwolves had a very similar gameplan as the New York Giants did on Sunday. Get a big lead, and then give it all back. At one point in the game, they had a 22-4 lead on the Suns and the game appeared to be over. Everything started to go wrong, though, when junior Jared Kindy accidentally made a shot on his own basket. They went on to lose a heartbreaker in triple-overtime but still have a lot of potential to be great if they can put this loss behind them. (Record: 1-1, Last Result: L 37-39 vs. Suns)

6. Nuggets- The Nuggets’ record of 0-2 is no indication of how good this team can be. They have played probably the toughest schedule in the league so far, coming up just short against the Mavericks and the Spurs, both of which are 2-0. There is no shame in a two point loss to the Mavericks, and any team that can put up 58 points in a game is obviously skilled. While they might not have won any games, this team still has seniors Max Reyes and Justin Pryor with junior Tucker White, any of which could bring the ball up at point guard. The biggest issue for the Nuggets is ball movement; having a star scorer like Reyes can make an offense one-dimensional. On Sunday, other capable players let him generate all of the offense, and settled for bad 3 pointers when they got the ball. Still, they should be able to bounce back. (Record: 0-2, Last Result: L 29-35 vs. Spurs)

7. Suns- The Suns bounced back from a big loss to the Thunder and a slow start to their game against the Timberwolves with a big second half led by senior Tommy Farren. Farren “put the team on my back with a sprained ankle” and went on to score 16 points, 12 of which were in the second half. This team could be a sleeper in upcoming games, as teams should look out for juniors Thomas Carruthers and sharp-shooter Billy Siemers. (Record: 1-1, Last Result: W 39-37 vs. Timberwolves)

8. Celtics- The Celtics have a chance to be good this year but have not shown it yet in their first two games. Senior Eric Parnon grabs every rebound and Brunswick junior Jack Voigt can pass it down low to him most times down the court but this team does not have very many, if any, outside shooters and could struggle if Parnon has an off game. The Celtics do have intangibles, however, in senior Blue Wave Super Fans Evan Rogers and Alex Bruno; these two have plenty of enthusiasm and spirit, and will try to power their team to victory. (Record: 0-2, Last Result: L 52-60 vs. Mavericks)

9. Rockets- Sources have told me that senior big man Peter McDonough needs surgery and will be out the rest of the season which doesn’t bode well for a team that has already struggled in their first two games and have the second worst point total in the league. The one thing that this team does have to look forward to is the possibility of getting a star player off the waiting list if this injury proves to be season ending. (Record: 0-2, Last Result: L 33-48 vs. Lakers)

10. Trailblazers- The Trailblazers have the worst offense so far, putting up a league-worst average of 27.5 PPG (lower than Tony Britton’s individual scoring average) and haven’t had great defense either, losing both games by at least 19 points. Sadly, this team does not have much to look forward to this season except for seeing how many threes Russell Palmer can make in one game. (Record: 0-2, Last Result: L 49-30 vs. Thunder)