Bound Brooks Quadir Harrell in a 2019-20 season game (Source: Twitter)
The burner has been turned down to a low simmer on the Bound Brook boys basketball team, due to COVID contact tracing.
The program is on pause for a few days, but it could have been a lot worse.
Crusaders’ head coach Anthony Melesurgo says Bound Brook was notified by North Plainfield – which it played on February 4th – that a player on that team tested positive for COVID. Protocol would have called for a 14-day break, allowing Bound Brook back to practice on February 19th, and able to play a game as early as the 20th.
However, Bound Brook quickly learned that the player in question did not play against the Crusaders. Without “close contact,” that will allow Brook to suit up again as soon as this weekend for practice, as long as all its players test negative. Melesurgo says the team is in the process of getting tested.
And it may not have even mattered much, which snow forecast for Thursday that could have wiped out Bound Brook’s game against rival Somerville.
Nonetheless, Bound Brook still is off to a hot start. No other team in the Skyland Confernce is 4-0 after two weeks of play. The resume includes home wins over Somerville and North Plainfield, and road victories over Warren Hills and Voorhees.
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As for Harrell, he’s averaging 20 points and 3 steals per game, and has nine treys on the year, all while Crusaders average three of four players in double-figure scoring a night to keep things balanced.
Click below to hear head coach Anthony Melesurgo talk about the early season streak, including the outstanding early-season play of Quadir Harrell: