Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton thought his 2014-15 team had the inklings of resembling the 2010-11 group that rode a 14-0 start to a 22-win season.
Four games into this season, Neuqua Valley is off to a quick 4-0 start having won the Hoops for Healing Thanksgiving Tournament by securing victories over Oswego East, Naperville North, Benet and De La Salle.
The Wildcats won the four games by a combined average margin of 16 points while averaging 67 points a game behind the likes of Connor Raridon, Demond George and Jacob Eminger.
Raridon, who claimed Hoops for Healing Most Valuable Player honors after pouring in a game-high 29 points in a 73-51 Neuqua Valley victory over De La Salle, averaged 19.8 points per game during the tournament.
“We played some tough games and we had three close games. The De La Salle game was close the whole game until the end, but really the last three games were all pretty close and tough games,” Raridon said. “But it’s good to get off to a 4-0 start and, you know, it’s early. It’s only November, but you hope that this is a good sign for our future and we know it’s a long season. We just got to keep working hard.”
The Wildcats collectively hit 11 three-pointers in their 66-54 victory over Naperville North, eight more triples in their 60-56 comeback victory over Benet and 13 three-pointers in the 22-point victory over De La Salle in the title game.
Raridon accounted for four three-pointers during the Wildcats’ victory over De La Salle after hitting on three triples against Naperville North and two more of them against Benet.
Five Wildcats made at least two three-pointers in the 73-51 victory over the Meteors on Friday.
Neuqua Valley’s ability to put points up on the board wasn’t a surprise to the North Central College-bound Raridon.
“I wasn’t really shocked because, I mean, we have multiple guys who can shoot from the perimeter and can score,” Raridon said. “I was surprised at how well we ran our offense to get good looks because usually early in the season it’s tough, especially when teams pressure you, to handle pressure and run your stuff and get open shots,” he said. “But we were fortunate enough to get those good shots and I wasn’t too surprised that we were able to knock them down because we see these guys every day in practice knocking down shots.”
On Wednesday, Benet blitzed the Wildcats to the tune of an 18-4 start early in the second quarter as Zach Lendino accounted for both Wildcat baskets in a four-point first quarter.
The Wildcats eventually were able to buckle down and started making some shots, which set up their defense, as they got to within two points at halftime before falling behind by 11 early in the second half.
From there, Neuqua Valley turned that 34-23 third-quarter deficit into an eventual 50-48 lead after a Jacob Cushing three-pointer with about four minutes to play before a Logan Wallace triple and a block of a Dan Sobolewski three-point attempt by Cushing helped seal the four-point win.
“We were just taking it one possession at a time, keep playing hard. We knew it was only the first quarter and it was going to be a long game,” Raridon said. “We knew how good that we were playing that once we started getting it going and got a little bit more momentum in the second quarter, we knew we could play with (Benet). We knew we just pick it up and we don’t like to start off that way, but it was good to see us battle back.”
What surprised the only coach the Neuqua Valley program has ever known was how his team played defense during the latter stages of the week.
Two days after beating Benet, the Wildcats permitted De La Salle to just 51 points while turning their four-point lead heading into the fourth into an eventual 22-point victory after putting up 29 points in the final quarter.
“We never concern ourselves about winning. We just want to do some little things well. We play defense,” Sutton said. “I’m surprised that our defense was as good as it was (throughout the tournament). That was good to see. I knew we could shoot (coming into the year) and I wasn’t sure about rebounding. But I thought we rebounded very well (in the tournament). I was very concerned about that.”
Neuqua Valley opens Upstate Eight Valley play on Friday night at Metea Valley, which is coached by longtime Sutton aide Bob Vozza.
The two programs have accounted for the last three Upstate Eight Valley titles, with Neuqua Valley having won each of the last two years.
With designs on trying to take home a third straight division crown, Sutton isn’t putting too much significance into what his team did over the course of four days last week.
It’s just about the constant grind of getting better at executing consistently.
“It’s meaningless in the conference game. Conference is a little bit different because everyone knows everyone. … We know each other as well as any two teams (know each other),” Sutton said.
