Orange Are Primed For Strong Run At The Title On Their Own Turf
by Zach Smart
Nearing the end of Ferris Ave. in White Plains lays a miniscule outdoor basketball court with rugged, far-from-friendly rims. It could draw parallels only to bandbox gymnasiums in tiny population high schools. Still, it’s home to one of the most competitive New York street tournaments outside of the city this summer.
The White Plains Summer Basketball league is a 12-team organization where coaches and non-player coaches are a minority and most teams, like the cement-hard criminals in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 classic, Reservoir Dogs, are known by color alias.
Though it’s summer time and the living is supposed to be easy, all games are played in front of a hostile environment in which an airball will earn you an earful and perhaps a new court nickname.
“It’s like college level games,” explained forward Sean Stahn of the league’s Blue team.
Stahn, who plays for Ithaca, uses the league to “stay in shape in the off-season,” adding that it’s “real good competition in a tough atmosphere.”
The Blue team, off to a 2-2 start, has the potential to catapult into one of the league’s upper-echelon squads. The lineup features a 6-foot-6 sharpshooter in Ryan Schneider (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.), who plays for Marist (after transferring from Vermont), and a bruising big man in Jason Boone (Sugar Loaf, N.Y.), the DIIIHoops.com East Region Player of the Year.
With a surplus of college players and former Section I/NYS studs, the Blue has a handful of guards, glossy-smooth swingmen, and big men who can contribute.
However, their ability to play a brand of selfless, mindful basketball that sacrifices individual shine for team glory is what divides them from other teams of their ilk.
“I think it’s a benefit, having 12 guys,” said Stahn, who acknowledges that the lack of a big ego on the team has paid its dividends.
“We all play as a team. We don’t try to be like superstars, that’s not what our team’s about. Everyone understands their role, even though some of these guys could be ‘the man’ on another team. Everyone is high-energy, everyone wants to play.”
They reaped the benefits of staying unified in last night’s thorough pummeling of New Rochelle’s purple team.
While the boys in blue could make some noise come playoff time, the clear-cut favorite is the All-White Plains Orange team.
With Manhattan’s Devin Austin and brother Markus, who was a lethal scorer during his time at Eastern Michigan, along with a solid nucleus of current and former D-I players, the team has few flaws.
“They’re all just real solid,” says George Skrelja (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.), who plays for the league’s Royal Blue team. “They’re a real tough team with the Austin brothers, and they’ve all been playing together for a long time.”
Skrelja, who plays alongside his younger brother Chris, a guard/forward for Brown University, has helped morph the Royal Blue into one of the league’s elite.
Another team to look out for is Tuckahoe. Tuckahoe’s two big guns are Jamal Webb, a bulky guard who played for Wagner, and Willie Shaw, the former St. John’s University standout and NBA prospect whose career was cut short after being suspended indefinitely on marijuana possession charges.
Another summer, another talent-stacked tournament. With playoffs on the verge, the White Plains click is likely to defend not just their title, but their home park turf.
