St. Luke's Boys Varsity Basketball: Season Outlook

The St. Luke’s Basketball team put in a dominant display against FAA rival Greens Farms Academy on Wednesday, November 11, to win its home opener 61-55. 

The win improved the Storm to 2-1, following a narrow 46-50 loss to Suffield Academy at the Zero Gravity Tournament and a hard-fought 54-51 win against Pomfret School at The Class B Showcase.

Expectations are high again for a program that has been crowned FAA League Champions three out of the last four years.

Head Coach Tony Newsom returns for his third season and is pleased with the start his team has made. “Preseason was very good, and we have shown a lot of promise in the opening few games. The guys are working hard, as we establish the right type of habits in practice. We have a lot of new guys so there was always going to be a little bit of an adjustment, but we are on track.”

This year’s squad is captained by Chuck Clemons ‘20, Gavin Greene ‘20 and Cole Bryant ‘21. Newsom has been impressed with the leadership shown by all three. “We tell the guys every day what we want to stress. The captains set the tone at every practice and have done an excellent job so far. They are leading by example, and the other players are responding well.”

St. Luke’s will look to defend its FAA title and to mount a challenge for the Class B NEPSAC Tournament Championship. Newsom is confident his team will achieve its goals. “Our goals remain consistent every year. We want to win the FAA regular season and the FAA tournament. We want to make it into the NEPSAC tournament and challenge for that title, too. The way we will do that is by being ultra-competitive in practice every day. We have been able to make a movement towards that and will continue to improve as the season progresses.”

Newsom expects a lot from Clemons, Greene, and Bryant but is confident that some of his younger players will have an impact too: “We have a lot of talent on the roster. Jah’khi Washington has a lot of experience at this level and been on Varsity for a couple of years. Even though he is one of the younger guys, he should be able to take the next step. Lewis Cropper has worked extremely hard to get ready for the season. He has a strong work ethic and the respect of everybody on the team. We also have Desmond Pratt, Ethan Crawford, Sean Clemons, Josh Harper, Fritz Laibe and Ryan Frank, who will all come off the bench and contribute.”

Another new player to the roster is Justin Covington, and Newsom is excited to see what the sophomore can add to the team: “He is a bigger guard who I hope can help us with scoring as well as defending. It’s going to take him a little time to make the adjustment and get the feel of his new teammates, but I think he will make big contributions.”

Newsom is looking for his group to play hard, work together and be tough on both ends of the court: “We need all 12 to compete and play hard. When people see us play, we want them to be able to say that we are a team that works together. We talk about playing for each other, we talk about sharing the game, sharing the ball, making the extra pass. We need to trust each other, and so far, to their credit, the players have done that.”

The Storm continues its season on Saturday, December 14, at The Scholar Roundball Classic at Babson College against Governor's Academy before returning to FAA action on Wednesday, December 18, at Hopkins School.