With the basketball regular season coming to a close, the PA Boys Basketball team are relentless in trying to get their way to the playoffs. This comes with multiple new additions to the squad, such as their first year head coach, Greg Montgomery, and freshman Eziah Goodson and sophomore NaMarqus Byrd.
As a new coach, Montgomery has certainly made a lasting impact on the team. Goodson commented “he brings a motor that we need and a toughness that we play with.” Byrd built on this narrative by saying, “he provides more confidence and he wants us to go out there and ball and do what we were put on this earth to do.” A new face on a team can completely change everything about a squad and that is 100% true for this team.
Eighteen games into the season, the Cavs are 10-8 overall and 7-5 in the region. The team is writing a new chapter to avoid the same fate as the year before where they went 10-10 and lost in regionals.
The Cavs opened the season 2-0, beating Bayside 67-36 and Kempsville 58-48. But after a great start, PA went on a three-game losing streak, losing to Norview, Green Run, and Landstown. Despite some early losses, the PA boys are back in business, winning four of their last five games, including a must-needed win against Ocean Lakes 102-26, a hard fought victory, 83-79 against First Colonial, and finally, knocking off the previously undefeated 10-0 Kellam Knights, 66-58. In the Kellam game, rising star Goodson scored 24 points and second-year player Byrd put up 11 points in the game of the year so far for the Cavs.
As the team continues to grow into the contenders they know they are, the brotherhood and chemistry between the team doesn’t come overnight. The offseason was massive for this team to bring everyone together and focus on winning, according to Byrd.
He emphasized how much work went into the offseason, describing the team’s work with “5 a.m. workouts, beach workouts, getting in the gym, and hanging out with my guys,” all of which brought the team together. This is all essential work to “build the culture up” Byrd adds. Goodson says we “embraced the work” and “worked out three times a day.”
The two players put an emphasis on proving others wrong with Byrd adding “a lot of people are looking down at PA and there is definitely something to prove. They want to count us out, but we’re not done yet.” Goodson explained the importance of not relying on just one player, but all, saying “I know people say we need this person, that person, but we are our own people.”
Byrd said that one of the team’s goals for the season was “just proving everyone wrong…we are coming out there to prove something.” Goodson said goals include “winning big games” and “trying to make it close to states.” The team proved their drive in the game against Kellam, which was an upset.
A veteran on the team, senior Noah McCarty emphasized the importance of the success over Kellam. “The Kellam game…revealed what our team could look like when we are firing on all cylinders.” To strategize for the important game, they stuck to routine and just “did the normal things,” according to McCarty, like “reviewing plays we run and identifying key players.”
It’s safe to say the team already has their eyes set on more than just playoffs. Goodson, plain and simply, said that “states” was their goal; similarly, Byrd said he wants “more than playoffs…there’s people at PA that can play basketball and that’s what we’re trying to prove.” With a first year head coach and multiple young players, the Cavs are attempting to stay on course and keep winning to propel themselves into the playoffs.
The PA boys next two games are away versus Bayside at 7:00 on Feb. 6, away versus Peninsula Catholic at 7:30 on Feb. 8, and their next home game is versus Kempsville at 7:00 on Feb. 18.
