Coach Taylor Reflects, Looks Forward to New Era of Ridge Basketball

Every season, a team tackles a new identity.

While it will be months for the story to be written about the 2010-11 Ridge boys basketball team, this much is certain: they have a precedent, a model for how to lay the foundation of a burgeoning program.

The Red Devils went 23-6 this past season. Their journey came to an end March 6 in the North 2, Group 4 Regional Semifinals. Ridge lost to Plainfield 58-56 in one of the greatest games in contemporary central New Jersey memory. With the loss, a curtain was drawn on Red Devils' coach Mark Taylor's first class that he's seen through in its entirety from them being freshmen to outgoing seniors. That first year, Ridge won 14 games; the following year brought 17 wins, then 25 and this past season, its first Somerset County Title since 1977.

"This group changed the entire mentality of the Ridge program," said Taylor. "We were the doormats in the Skyland Conference and these kids changed the entire impression of Ridge.

"We told them that and we needed them to buy in and understand to change the impression, they needed to buy in. They did that and had great attitudes."

The "we" coach Taylor refers to were the backbone of the team: outgoing seniors Nick Cefalo (10.8 points), Christian Frisoli (12.8), Andrew Madlinger (14.7), Rob McCarthy (3.4) and even little-used players such as Ryan Gerrity, John Legband, Kyle Stanzel and JD Moore.

"You talk about leaving a legacy, with a lot of things going on and with a coach like myself, these group of kids had tremendous resolve," said Taylor. "No matter what was thrown at them, the blind lessons and kids transferring and Andrew's wrist injury this past season, they came back stronger and that's something you can't teach.

"Even the seniors that didn't play a lot, like Ryan and Kyle, were always unbelievable with their attitudes and approached things the right way. They all understood their job, their responsibility and took care of themselves; then the wins came and came and came."

They did by the boatload, a sterling 29-1 mark the last three seasons in the Skyland Delaware West Division and qualifying for the state playoffs four straight seasons.

But as is the case, when a group of kids depart, another set is ready to stake their claim at continuing the bridge that was established by the previous regime. For the Red Devils, the pillars will be two coming seniors, Conor Skea (8.7 points) and 6'7" Tom Gambino (6.7), who has developed into one of the county's best post players.

"When you leave a legacy like the departing seniors did, it's easy to have one great team and you start with the fact they are great people and great citizens," said Taylor. "They saw how it was done and Tom and Conor will be huge leaders."

 The 6'0'' Skea, who packs a mighty punch while driving the lane, became one of the team's more versatile and hard-driven players. His ball-handling, ability to penetrate and play defense, no matter how big the opponent, will serve him well next season.

"I look at Conor and love his game, he's so versatile," said Taylor. "If I ever go to war, you can toss a coin at who I would pick between him and Nick Cefalo. Conor doesn't care who he's guarding. You can tell him, 'hey, go cover a 6-foot-5 guy' and even though he's giving away five inches and 50 pounds, he will do it. We use Conor offensively as a mismatch. If you put a big guy on him, he will go by him, if you put a smaller guy on him, he will muscle him down into the paint. The big thing in my coaching style and tempo is Conor's presence presents other teams to double him, leaving others open for shots."

While Conor will anchor the guard position, Gambino will once again hold down the interior. Gambino adapted well to the offense and found open spots on penetrations and developed a soft hook along with a jumper that will make him a guaranteed double-figure scorer next season. Not to mention defensively, Gambino became an accomplished shot-blocker and improved his understanding at that side of the court.

"Tom hasn't played a lot of basketball growing up but he works really hard and I ride him a lot but that's because he has an unbelievable upside," said Taylor. "In my coaching career, I haven't seen a player make more progress than I've seen Tom make in 12 months. I'll never forget my assistant Rocco (Matrisciano) telling me to calm down once because three months prior, he couldn't make shots. But with success, you forget he's gotten so good in such a short time. He has the ability to play college basketball. The one thing about Tom is since he hasn't played a lot of ball, it took awhile to learn the idiosyncrasies of where to be at certain spots and why to get to that spot. He would get yelled at by me and other coaches, but once he got it down, it was like 'wow', he's open in the right place and Nick throws him a wide open pass. It clicked with him."

The next in line of players expected to make immense contributions are a pair of twins: Dylan and Jack Kerwin. Both would've played more this past season if it weren't for the presence of the fabled senior class, but with playing time open, the Kerwins' are good bets to start next season.

"Dylan and Jack work harder than any player on any level we have," said Taylor. "They are top five in work ethic and those guys are going to be fine. We want them to play more basketball and I talked to their dad and they will play a lot of games over the summer, 40 of them on the AAU circuit."

Both are solidly built 6'1" performers, but Jack looks right now to be a point guard while Dylan is more the wing player.

"Jack is better at handling the ball and Dylan shoots its better but both are athletic, have speed, agility and very, very good basketball IQs."

A couple of other players who will make an impact are upcoming junior Dillon Mahon and senior swingman JB Kole.

"Dillon has a chance to become a good point guard for us," said Taylor. "JB gives us size on the wing and he's a good shooter. He will play more next season."

TJ Brady will be on hand to assist Gambino with size and depth. An intriguing possibility could be Conor's brother, Evan, who was on the freshman team this past season.

"When I was at St. Joe's, I had Jay Williams, an All-American guard and people were asking me when Jay was going to play and he didn't play immediately on the varsity," said Taylor. "I'm going to have the best players play in my program and it's not helping if Evan is on the varsity and not playing. He has a lot of ability but if he plays well, he will be given an opportunity."

There are holes to be filled and roles to be won. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Keep in mind that the team will play numerous games with each other over the summer in tournaments and other competitions.

"Every team takes on a new personality and this past season, we had talented players but more importantly, they liked each other and were hanging out off the court," said Taylor. "It made it a lot easier to coach from a chemistry standpoint because they shared the love. They made it really tough to guard you because they shared the ball. I believe my system will be similar next year but the throttle will be different.

"We may post the ball and focus more on Tom and Conor earlier in the offense and shoot a little later than this past season when the seniors had the green light. If the Kerwins and Mahon play ably, we may play the same as we did this past season."