Newfield basketball prepares to defend state title

March 19, 2022, will live long in the memory of the Newfield community. That day, the boys basketball team won its first-ever state championship after taking down Stillwater 87-62 in Glen Falls. Eight months later, the Trojans are back to work to defend their Class C title.

Practices started back up two weeks ago at Sue France Gymnasium. Head coach Mike Nembhard could already tell how eager his team was to get back out on the court.

“Practice has been very, very intense,” Nembhard said. “These guys have been ready to go back at it a week after we won it all in March. These guys are happy to be back in the season, and they’re just going at each other — very aggressive, high intensity — and they’re just ready to roll and ready for the season to get going.”

Reflecting on his inaugural year leading the Trojans, Nembhard goes back to the IAC Small School Championship loss to Moravia as the turning point in the season. From there, Newfield went undefeated and even got revenge against the Blue Devils in the sectional final.

“I saw fire in their eyes after that loss,” Nembhard said. “It was a good loss for us because it really allowed us to run in the sectionals, and then regionals, and then get on to state championships. I have a great bunch of guys. They work hard, and we set a goal, and we just went for it. Luckily, we came out with the state championship.”

Leading the Trojans for one final season is Jalen Hardison. The senior point guard is coming off a monumental campaign as the New York State Class C Player of the Year and the IAC South Small Division MVP and reaching 1,000 career points. Nembhard has watched Hardison since fifth grade, and he knew back then that Hardison would become a special player.

“His basketball IQ is off the charts,” Nembhard said. “He’s just a player who wants to get better every time he gets on the court. He works hard. He goes through the drills hard. He wants to learn. He asks questions. And he’s just a high-level basketball player. He’s a great leader. He loves his teammates, he loves his community, and he just loves his school. … I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to watch him as a kid, and to be able to coach him to a state championship just makes it all worth it.”

The Trojans retained all but five players from last season but graduated two starters in forward Derek Pawlewicz and center Garrett Porter. Replacing them in the starting lineup will be Hezikiah McCoy and Anthony Ellison to go alongside Hardison, Zach Taylor and Austin Jenney. The Trojans have a strong supporting cast with returners Trevor Sinn, Brody Jackson, Zach Schwoeble, Greg Taylor and Carter Aidun. The four newcomers to the squad are Ulric Claar, Sawyer Emery, Honour Minor and Jeremiah Green.

With both the sectional and state titles in hand, The Trojans come into the 2022-23 campaign with a target on their back. Nembhard is preparing his team for even tougher competition this time around.

“I told my guys everybody’s going to be gearing up for Newfield because everybody wants to beat us, and everybody has to go through us if they want to win it,” Nembhard. “We’re fully aware of teams just gearing at us and coming at us. This is why it’s very important for me as a coach and the guys as a team to really work hard and prepare for these teams that’s going to be coming at us because we’re state champions. The guys realize what we’re up against this year. We’re going to do all we can to prepare and be ready.”

The Trojans open up their title defense on Dec. 6 at home to Odessa-Montour, who went 1-18 the previous year. While this contest may seem like a slam dunk on paper, Nembhard knows that they can’t take any team for granted if they want to repeat as state champions.

“You want to come out every game and play hard no matter what the competitor looks like,” Nembhard said. “[For] most of our games we lost last year, we came out like we were supposed to win, and that’s not how you approach the game. We have to come out every night and play whoever we’re playing — even if the competition is not high — and come out and do what we need to do to get the win. We can’t afford to slack [off] and think that this is an automatic win. We have to come out and play our game hard each and every day. That’s the main thing we’re focusing on this year.”

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