Havre de Grace Boys Basketball Hitting Stride with Playoffs Nearing

A lot of coaches would panic if their team started the season 1-4, but Brian Eberhardt isn't one.

Eberhardt's Havre de Grace boys basketball team started the season slowly, but he was confident his team would get better as the season progressed. Six of his players played football this past fall which was quite the time commitment since the Warriors reached the MPSSAA 1A state final.

Havre de Grace's final football game was played on Dec. 5, while its first boys basketball game was played on Dec. 8, meaning the team had little time to practice together before its opener.

"That's athletics at a 1A school, multiple sport athletes," Eberhardt said. "Once we got some substantial practice time together and guys got their basketball legs back, we started to improve."

The Warriors have put their best foot forward since that slow start. The team is currently 12-6, including an 8-2 record in Susquehanna Division play which places them second in the division behind Elkton.

The season has already been a tremendous success for Havre de Grace considering the team only brought back four players from last year's team, which finished 20-4.

"That team established a standard of play for this year's team," Eberhardt said. "They showed our younger guys what we could achieve with hard work."

This year the team has been led by the duo of Kenneth Sumpter and Josh Penn. Sumpter leads the team in scoring with 16 points per game, while Penn is contributing 11 points per game. Both have also been crucial on the defensive side of the ball, with Eberhardt pointing out that Penn sets the tone on defense for the entire team.

The two both had strong games to lead Havre de Grace to its biggest win of the season, an 83-79 effort over Elkton yesterday. Sumpter led the way with 26 points, while Penn added 18 points.

The win snapped Elkton's eight game win streak, and avenged an 18 point loss Havre de Grace suffered a few weeks ago against the Elks. It's also given Eberhardt hope that his young Warriors are going to be ready when they get to the postseason.

"They are a very good team anywhere but especially tough at home. We were able to pull the win out in a track meet," Eberhardt said. "I felt like our guys really battled and didn't give up. Hopefully that will spill over to the playoffs."