Pocono Mountain West may be the league’s best
Practice ended early Wednesday night at Pocono Mountain West.
Panthers coach Rich Williams didn’t like what he was seeing on the heels of the previous day’s scrimmage at Delaware Valley and had seen enough.
Williams wants his kids to bring their best every day and he felt they weren’t on this particular night. He knows he has a talented team, a squad that can contend for its first championship since the new Eastern Pennsylvania Conference was formed in 2014-15, but they need to play hard every night.
Pocono Mountain West is coming off a 22-win season that included appearances in the EPC and District 11 5A title games.
Williams knows he has two special talents in Adrian Brito and KJ Coles who emerged as stars last year as a sophomore and freshman respectively. He is concerned about a lack of depth and he wants his unproven players to push their games forward.
“We have some special talents in Adrian and KJ and what makes it even better is that they’re great kids with good grades,” Williams said. “Their parents are also a pleasure who are appreciative of the journey and not just looking at the end result. They’re very supportive of the program and their kids.”
The EPC North figures to be more competitive than it has been years and West has a schedule featuring
some of the area’s best teams. Will Pocono West be up to the challenge?
“We’ve got a lot of dawgs, guys who didn’t play a lot last year and they now have a chance to prove themselves,” said Coles, who averaged 13.5 points per game, hit 68 3s and made 85% from the foul line, said.
Brito, who averaged 12.4 points
per game last year, said he trimmed his body weight since last year and improved his stamina.
“I want to be more of a leader and rebound more and be a better all-around player and help my team win a championship,” Brito said. “We’re going to go at it 120% and keep our grades up, too.”