With only one senior starter, and three freshmen in the team’s starting five, the 2011-2012 season for the Anzar boys basketball team started roughly.
Struggling to score points, the Hawks have started the season 1-12 as they enter league play Friday.
In the Hawks’ losses, the nine-person squad has lacked an offensive rhythm. Against some tough opponents and average differential of nearly 20 points, the Hawks have rarely been in games.
But with such a young team, success isn’t necessarily expected at this time, head coach Ed Cecena said. The only goal during the team’s tough first couple of months was to “keep morale up.”
“Making them understand that all we can do is compete to the best of our ability,” Cecena said. “Sometimes we just have to look for some small achievements and some positive things like that. Because if we keep looking at the scoreboard, we are getting beaten pretty badly because we are so out-manned.”
He continued, “I just tell them that we are learning the fundamentals and we are working for the future.”
That’s not to say the team wont try to win every game and compete at the highest level, Cecena said.
“We want to win a league championship even if its not realistic,” Cecena said. “We have the same goals as everybody else. We just need to give it our best shot and see what happens.”
So far this year, the team has relied on senior captain Nick Salgado, who has average nearly 15 points per game.
In the Hawks only win of the season – a 46-39 Dec. 9 win over KIPP Collegiate – Salgado was dominant, scoring 21 points. To win more games this year, Anzar will hope for more games like that from the senior.
“There have been some positives,” Cecena said. “There are times when we are taking steps forward in fundamentals – some of these kids are still learning the fundamentals. I see some improvement in that.”
He continued: “But then there are other times, when we take a couple of steps backward because of the competition level. We were so out-manned, all we could do was focus on little positive things.”
With all the freshmen on the squad, keeping the team focused on the good things is Salgado’s job.
“I need to keep everybody positive to win some games,” he said. “It’s very important because that’s half the team right there. You have to encourage them and give a positive outlook.”
After struggling through the team’s non-league schedule, it should be easier once the team enters league play, Cecena said. Luckily for the Hawks, among the league foes, Anzar played the most non-league games – a full slate of 13.
With the young players, it was important to play as many games as possible, Salgado said.
“We played the max,” he said. “It’s very important. It gives them a lot of game experience so they know how it intense it is – it’s not sixth-grade basketball.”
Even with the losses, the schedule gave the team an opportunity to grow before the league season began, Cecena said.
“It’s just the experience of being out there and paying games – even though they are competing and getting beat, they are out there,” Cecena said.
Regardless how this year goes, Cecena knows the team will only get better as the youth turns into experience.
“Hopefully, in the next couple of years they will get bigger and learn this system of basketball,” he said. “Maybe, we’ll have some success down the road.”
For now, as long as the team tries its best – and does it the right way – Cecena has no complaints.
“The competition is going to be against ourselves and not the scoreboard,” he said. “We just want to control the things we can control. We can control effort. We can control things like behavior on the court and have good sportsmanship. Things we can’t control, we can’t worry about. If we get beat really bad, lets work on staying positive and things like that.”
So far, so good.
“They try and they give it their best shot,” Cecena said. “They are willing to learn and do the things they need to do on the court.”
Anzar opens the league season against Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory at 7 p.m. Friday at Anzar High.
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