Southern Tier Sports ReportSOUTHPORT — The Notre Dame Prep basketball team opened the year with a 104-82 win over Rock Top on Friday night.
Kobe Zhang, a 6-foot, 10-inch sophomore from China had 24 points in the game, including 17 in the second half.
“It was really fun,” Zhang said of the game. “We are happy.”
The crowd support was pretty special for the players.
“It’s amazing,” Zhang said.
For Notre Dame coach James Cray the players were proud to play in front of the community.
“We worked really hard for the past couple months,” Cray said. “I’m really happy we got to play in front of a great crowd today and the guys got a win.
“In the locker room before the game they came in and said ‘hey guys, there are a lot of people here, let’s make the community proud,’ so they played with a little something for the community.”
6-foot, 7-inch senior Anthony Enechukwu from Texas had 20 points in the game.
Cray was happy with everything the big guys did on Friday.
“They have a chance to be really, really good,” Cray said. “They are our hardest workers, so it makes a difference and our guards want to give them the ball so it helps out.
“It’s easy because they get all the attention and when they get all the attention the guards get better shots.”
Brayden Smalls, a 6-6 junior from South Carolina had 17 points and Matthew Pope, a 6-3 junior from Syracuse had 10 points.
Jaden Schwenebraten, a 6-3 senior from Rochester had nine points and Dray Thiekler, a 6-1 senior from Massachusetts had eight points.
Sebastian Pope, a 6-6 senior from Australia had six points and Jordan Francis, a 6-4 sophomore from Toronto, Kiefer Derkitt, a 6-6 senior from Saskatchewan, Canada and Shiloh Ezderan, a 6-5 senior from Staten Island all had five points in the game.
Agi Tsonis, a 6-3 junior from Australia, had two points.
The win is something the Crusaders can build on.
“We have our first session next week and this is a building block for that, so I’m excited.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:
