It is going to be tough sledding in Conference A-1 for the New Hyde Park boys basketball team in the 2012-13 season; there are a lot of quality teams on the schedule including South Side, Westbury, Garden City and Wantagh.
The Gladiators will have a lot of dog fights with some good teams with the hope of getting back to the conference playoffs where they missed out last season after going 3-7 in their league.
“Conference A-1 is one of the most balanced conferences with a lot of teams who are very similar to each other in talent,” New Hyde Park head coach Donald Rood said. “There were a lot of close games last season which could have gone either way in the end.”
Unfortunately, New Hyde Park lost two of its biggest scoring threats and most talented starters – Kevin Towey and Adam Priest – to graduation. Towey was named an all-county player last season and was the Gladiator’s leading scorer. Priest was given All-Conference honors and was also recognized as a scholar-athlete.
“They definitely provided the bulk of our scoring,” Rood said. “But now we can let some of our guys who played behind them shine a little.”
Those guys who will step into the main spotlight include seniors John Tomasini and Josh Lee, who are the only remaining starters to return to this years squad. The Gladiators have a total of 10 seniors on the team.
New Hyde Park will rely on Tomasini for scoring production in the point guard position. Lee will play at power forward and Christian Trasolini will play in the three-man spot. Phil Balcer will use his height to get some points down low in the center position and help to ensure that the Gladiators will not be as reliant on their jump shots as they were last season.
New Hyde Park plays their first game today at home in a non-league matchup against Plainedge at 4:30 p.m.
They play their first conference game on December 14 at home against South Side at 4:30 p.m.
