WDHS Boys' Basketball Team Proving Resilient

By his own admittance, boys' basketball coach Don Clark is not a fan of having just one or two players jump out in a box score. He likes the ball spread around, with everyone on the floor getting opportunities to contribute on the offensive end.

But when the points come in from Tom Jakubowski and Justin Hansen the way they did Tuesday night, Clark is just fine with it.

Jakubowski scored a career-high 31 points, while Justin Hansen had a season-high 17 in the Eagles runaway 66-43 win over Collingswood. The victory improved the Eagles to 5-3–just one less win than the team had all last season.

It was the type of performance that showed just how much the Eagles have grown over the past couple of seasons. Jakubowski–whose game typically centers around getting out on the break and getting layups, or to the free throw lines–hit a trio of three-pointers. Hansen ran the offense with great efficiency, and showed aggressiveness rarely seen in underclassmen.

Even reserve big-man Jamil Pollard saw increased playing time and is developing into the type of player that could be a real factor down the stretch, according to Clark.

The win also ended a 15-game losing streak to the Panthers that dated back to 2004.

But more importantly than just a win, Tuesday’s effort showed that West Deptford was not sunk by a 42-point defeat to Haddonfield five days earlier. After the loss, Clark heard whispers the program was coming back to reality after its quick start. However, once the team got back on the floor, he was reminded that outside views are meaningless to the players.

“All the critics came out (after the Haddonfield loss) and you heard all that nonsense, but it was more me and the parents who dealt with it than (the players),” Clark said. “They forgot about it and moved on. It’s a good group of kids and I’m not sure if we will ever have a group like them and their parents.”

Though the season is just about a third of the way through, the Eagles have already faced adversity a couple of times. After starting the season with consecutive wins, West Deptford dropped two in a row, including a 73-50 thumping at the hands of Delran. The team responded from that loss by winning its next two games.

“We have had two bad losses and they bounced back both times,” Clark said. “I just told the guys that it can’t take a major crushing for you to wake up.”

What has been equally impressive as the team’s ability to shrug off defeats has been its ability to win on the road. The Eagles are in the midst of a brutal start to the schedule where just two of the first 12 games are at home.

The team has a great home schedule the second-half of the year, but several of those games come after the playoff cutoff date, so winning on the road early was important. The Eagles now have four wins in six road games.

In typical coach fashion, Clark is sticking to the “one game at a time motto,” although this time the motto seems perfectly fitting. Winning is still new to this program, as it has won just eight combined games the last two years, and the schedule is about to really test just how good this team is.

The Eagles take on Haddon Township (6-3) today and follow with Haddon Heights (8-1) Tuesday. If West Deptford can come out of that with a split or a sweep, it will be another step forward. If the Eagles drop both, it will just be another piece of adversity the team will have to overcome.

"If you look at what we have ahead of us, it will drive you nuts,” Clark said. “You just have to take it one at a time, try and play your best basketball and see where you are at the cutoff.”