Spotswood’s Kiye Walker elevates for a slam dunk on a fast break against South Amboy. (Source: Hudl)
Granted, it’s early yet, but there’s good reason to be optimistic about Spotswood boys’ basketball this year.
Despite the loss of forward Roman Carone and his 19 points a game last year, the Chargers return four starters. Better yet, they are 2-0 to start a season for the first time since 2018-19, and are led in scoring through the first two games by a pair of juniors: forward Kiye Walker and guard Rion Ahmetaj.
And yes, Spotswood is big, a luxury head coach Steve Mate – now in his 28th season on Summerhill Road – hasn’t always had. Ahmetaj is 6-6, his younger brother Albion – a freshman – is 6-8, and junior forward Daniel Yarus is 6-6, while senior Casey Cumiskey and Walker are both 6-3.
Monday night, their arch rival South River comes into town, in a GMC Blue Division game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino will call allt he action with pregame set for 6:15 pm, and tip-off at 7. Click here to listen live.
In addition to all that, Mate is just a win away from a major milestone: his 400th overall coaching victory. He’s 359-301 at Spotswood, and 399-334 overall, including a four-year stint at Verona where he was 40-33 before taking the Spotswood job – when this reporter was a senior in high school.
Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Spotswood head coach Steve Mate:
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