City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
--

(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's "Prepping for Preps," our series of articles previewing area high school teams for the 2015-16 season. For the complete list of schools previewed so far, click here)

~~~

SPRING GROVE — Preseason practice may still be some three weeks away — officially — but the excitement and the expectations and the optimism surrounding the “Big Blue Machine” are as palpable as a speed dribble.

And while acres and acres of surrounding farmland make a pleasant drive through western York County seem as though one is spinning uncontrollably in one of H.G. Wells’ time machines — two-lane roads merely aid the effect — the youngsters in Spring Grove’s boys’ basketball program are merely riding the positive waves.

The ones they’re responsible for.

A hoops hotbed for decades yet hardly relevant for the past 20 years or so, Spring Grove saw its basketball fortunes take a remarkable upswing last season and those who zealously follow James Brooks’ Rockets can continue their upward ascent as a promising 2015-16 campaign plays out in this close-knit mill town.

They have their reasons for being so optimistic.

• Brooks’ Rockets captured their first District 3-AAAA playoff victory in nearly two decades last season, defeating long-time YAIAA I playmate Red Lion 66-55 behind a career-high 30 points from Eli Brooks, the coach’s son.

• Eli Brooks, a Division I prospect lugging seven scholarship offers in his backpack, is one of eight regulars returning to a Spring Grove club that last season wound up 15-10 — eight more wins than the Rockets enjoyed a year earlier.

• Those eight returning regulars include all five starters.

OK, then. 

“We kind of just went out there and played basketball and what happened happened,” Eli Brooks said recently. “We were shooting for just more wins than the year before and just to get better. It just happened we did a lot better than what people expected and went 15-10.” 

As for taking that next step — another biggie by all accounts — the younger Brooks offers several how-to possibilities that really aren’t all that surprising.

“If we just stick to the fundamentals,” Eli continued. “That’s how we got good over time, just sticking to what we do best in our roles. It’s confidence mainly. Confidence is the main factor of winning in any sport, so we’re going to take that away. Plus, we get everybody back except one person from [last year’s] team.

“We don’t have to start from scratch.”

A remarkably athletic 6-0 junior guard with spring and a long wingspan who last season averaged 20 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 block per outing, Eli Brooks likely will see some loaded defensive looks full of gimmicks predicated on preventing him from really unloading on an adversary.

Won’t be anything new.

“We saw a couple box-and-ones and triangle-and-twos,” he admitted, “but I have confidence in everybody on the team to make shots, like they did last year.”

As for the Rockets’ other veteran starters, 6-2 senior Darin Gordon complemented Brooks nicely a season ago, averaging 14 points per tilt.

An interchangeable quintet also is likely to feature 5-11 senior Liam Flaherty, 6-4 senior Grant Wierman and 6-0 junior Jon Sager.

Drew Gordon, a 6-2 sophomore, 6-2 senior Josh Bellamy and 5-11 junior Ty Maughlin round out a group of experienced returnees that hopes to have Spring Grove contending for YAIAA I supremacy alongside perennial hammers such as two-time defending District 3-AAAA champ York High and Central York.

James Brooks’ Rockets were 0-4 against York and Central, but defeated everyone else at least once in league play. Counting its District 3-AAAA success, Spring Grove was a perfect 3-for-3 against Red Lion. It hasn’t been like that for some time.

“They’re the last ones,” James Brooks said, referring to York and Central. “And it took a little bit until we got Red Lion and Dallastown, that our guys skill-wise could play with anyone in our league. We just had to think that we could do it.

“And mentally, not beating those teams hurt us,” continued Brooks (22-25), who is entering his third season. “When I took over, I had the mentality that if we work hard, we have the chance to win any game. Now the kids start believing that when we have close games with them.

“Now that we’ve beaten teams like Red Lion and Dallastown, we’re going after the last two, Central and York High.”

Brooks & Co. will get plenty of early feedback, too, since they open at Central.

Since dates with Chambersburg, Carlisle, Greencastle-Antrim and Delone Catholic appear — Spring Grove will debut in the Warwick Holiday Tournament as well — a testy non-league slate also is in place for Brooks’ Rockets.

It’s all helped the Rockets reconstruct their once-cloudy outlook.

“Even more than just us believing we could win, we had to put doubt in the other team that they’re not just gonna come in and beat us up,” James Brooks said. “If a program is used to winning, they’ll win close games because they’re the team that usually wins. Everybody just kind of comes to that realization.

“Our next thing that these guys have to do — and our senior and our junior group has seen success down below — [is they’ve] brought that fight for everything that we want. And that mentality, that’s carried over into the games.

“Those close games that are 50-50, let us be the ones that are aggressive and go after it,” Brooks added. “We’re not sitting back and waiting for it, like saying, ‘Please, fall in our lap.’ We’re gonna go out and take it.”

In addition to its 15-victory campaign — Spring Grove won two games combined in the two seasons before Brooks arrived — the Rockets led a really good Cedar Crest club at halftime (22-21) in the 3-AAAA round of 16 before tumbling.

Crest went on to reach states, pushing eventual Quad-A champ Roman Catholic for the better part of three quarters before falling.

So, everyone can see why the Rockets believe they, too, can make some interesting noise in postseason play this time around — at the YAIAA level and beyond.

Despite its past successes — especially in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s — Spring Grove is still seeking its first state tournament appearance.

“We’re not looking just to make it to the end of our season, we’re looking to go into counties and do something in counties, maybe hopefully compete for a county championship and go from there and go into districts,” James Brooks said. “I see this group strong enough to win a couple district games and get to the state level.

“That would be huge for our program.”