From One Win Season Two Years Ago To State Tourney Berth, Antoine Allen’s Zebras Have Come A Long Way
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–On Thursday night, in a game broadcasted live on WCTC AM 1450, the New Brunswick Zebras defeated the Colonia Patriots for the second time this season by the score of 51-36. The win was a memorable one for NBHS. It was for two reasons. First, it was the first ten win season at the school since the 2005-06 season. Second, it was the first time in that three year span that the Zebras qualified for the state tournament.
Two years ago, senior Simuel Williams was a member of a team that went 1-17. However, that was the starting point for Antoine Allen’s rebuilding program. Allen, a former standout at Linden High School in the late 1980s, was determined to get the job done in bringing a renaissance to New Brunswick Basketball. Besides Williams, who played freshman basketball at Perth Amboy, there was Nigel Scott, also a sophomore at the time, coming up from the JV program. Then, there was the 2007-08 NBHS Freshmen team, coached by former East Brunswick standout, and current Zebras assistant coach, Larry Press. Led by the likes of Jaquan Cook and Nyeem Coleman, New Brunswick reached the Final Four of that season’s Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament.
New Brunswick went through the summer of 2008 with mostly scrimmages against other schools, and a trip to the Kean Ironman Challenge toward the end of the season. The offseason work didn’t produce a lot of immediate results as the Zebras were only 3-19 in 2008-09 including another GMCT Play-In Round exit. However, this past summer, at the 2009 Bound Brook Summer League, New Brunswick began to show signs of making some big steps forward in the 2009-10 season with a second place regular season finish, and a berth in the Quarterfinals. Nice additions such as Fuquan Rogers, Milton Pittman, Troy Wilcox, Gary Reeder, and Deon Perry solidified the core of Williams, Cook, and Scott.
New Brunswick started off on the wrong foot with three straight losses. However, the Zebras began to play well in the 2009 Brunswick Classic with an opening round win over South Brunswick, and then a solid performance in defeat against one of the top five teams in the GMC right now in East Brunswick. Using the momentum off that holiday tournament, and the new surroundings of a brand new gym and high school right off Route 27, NBHS began to roll with 10 victories in their last 14 games. The result, is a playoff berth, a huge step for a program that has a great history of former standout players and teams.
It has been a very long road for New Brunswick Boys Basketball, but it is finally on the rebound, and that is good for the GMC.