‘This is home’ — Greer leads Alter to 5-0 start
Junior overcomes injuries, makes most of his move to Alter.
KETTERING — R.J. Greer couldn’t be happier to be playing basketball for the Alter Knights. He’s back with the first friends he made when he moved to town as a sixth grader.
His two seasons at Springboro were filled with injuries and seasons cut short. But as a junior he is healthy and helping lead the Knights to a 5-0 start, including Friday night’s 42-31 victory over previously unbeaten Fenwick. He scored a game-high 13 points and leads the Greater Catholic League Co-ed with 16 points a game.
“This is home,” he said of the school system he attended through eighth grade. “I was supposed to come here, and then some stuff happened freshman year. So I ended up at Springboro. Then we talked about it after I got hurt and realized that this is probably the best decision moving forward, which obviously it was.”
Greer’s father, Ricardo, is an assistant coach to Anthony Grant at the University of Dayton. Greer, despite missing so much time, has shown enough on the AAU circuit to earn offers from Cincinnati, Florida, Michigan, Penn State and others.
“It’s great,” said Knights senior guard Gavin Leen. “He’s adapted well, gets the system, scores a lot. And we’ve been good, so it’s been nice.”
The Knights (5-0, 3-0) are jelling and in early control of the GCLC, but it didn’t come easy against Fenwick (4-1, 2-1) and 6-foot-10 Bailey Temming (12 points) and 6-8 Carrson Sova. The Knights never led in the first half but were
tied 21-21 at the break. Then the Knights never trailed in the second half.
Assistant coach Brian Rex made the calls Friday because head coach Eric Coulter is in Scotland for his father-in-law’s funeral. Rex, who has been on Alter’s staff for 10 years, is 2-0 filling in for Coulter. At halftime he went against the usual Alter defensive tide. The Knights are known for their 2-3 zone, but Rex switched to a 1-3-1 for most of the second half. Fenwick scored four points in the third quarter and didn’t score in the fourth until two 3-pointers in the final 1:38.
“Just trying to give them a different look,” Rex said. “I felt like they were getting comfortable with our 2-3 zone, starting to get some looks in the middle and getting the ball down low to Temming. They can be tough to guard with those two big guys.”
Recent Alter teams have been strong 3-point shooting teams, and with Greer, Leen, Joe Brand and Brady Conner this team is no different. Rex told them it would be kick-out night to shooters with Temming and Sova guarding the rim.
The shots started to fall in third when Leen hit two early ones. In between, the 1-3-1 created a steal for Brand
and pass ahead to Greer for a layup. By the 4:55 mark the Knights were up 28-23. Brand and Conner closed the quarter with 3-pointers for a 35-25 lead.
“That’s what won the game right there,” Greer said. “We were talking about the first three minutes we need to come out, set the tone. And then Gav comes out and hit some big shots.”
Leen and center Charlie Uhl leaned on a trio of threeyear starters — Anthony Ruffolo, A.J. Leen, Gavin Geisel — last year. Leen loves the start to this season with his new backcourt mates of Greer, Brand and Conner, who scored 10 points.
“Just trusting those guys,” he said. “They can play just as good as anyone. We’re playing hard, playing as a team and Brady’s been stepping up, so we’ve been good in the backcourt.”
The Knights play three games in a holiday tournament next week in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Rex expects Coulter to meet the team there.
“I have his golf clubs that I’m taking down there for him,” Rex said. “So he’s confident that he’ll get down there and we’ll be able to play some golf.”
And build more basketball chemistry.