DePaul encouraged by its youth by Greg Tartaglia of The Record
MAHWAH – Malcolm McLeod watched as his DePaul basketball teammate, freshman John O’Reilly, drained a long three-pointer with two seconds remaining in of the first quarter.
McLeod followed suit with three ticks left in the second quarter of Thursday’s Big North cross-divisional game at Mahwah, canning a three from the left corner.
Twice is especially nice right now for the Spartans, who have twice as many wins as losses following their 49-33 victory over the Thunderbirds. At 2-1, DePaul is over the .500 mark for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
The arrival of McLeod, a transfer from Eastern Christian, is one reason the Passaic County team is optimistic about this winter after consecutive five-win campaigns.
Another is the arrival of three ninth-graders, who combined to score 29 of the Spartans’ points (59 percent) against Mahwah (0-4).
O’Reilly connected three times from beyond the arc to finish with nine points, and his long-distance shooting was just one encouraging sign shown by the DePaul frosh.
“I like Zion [Bethea’s] ability to attack the basket,” McLeod said. “I like Elijah [Hutchins-Everett’s] strength inside the paint. If they all keep playing with each other, they can get better over the years.”
Hutchins-Everett is a 6-foot-8 center that had five rebounds in the first eight minutes and 10 for the game. Bethea stepped to the forefront in the second quarter, scoring eight of his 12 points.
“My teammates started to get me involved, and they kept on pushing me to keep going,” said Bethea, who has averaged 15 points through three games. “They really push me hard all the time.”
The Spartans’ three senior forwards – McLeod, Michael Balbuena and Isaiah Robinson – are being counted upon to help develop the young talent, which also includes sophomore point guard Eddie Davis (six points, four assists).
Robinson was on the varsity as a freshman, when DePaul finished 12-10. McLeod has played at Teaneck and Eastern Christian, and when his family moved to Englewood prior to the start of the school year, that opened the door for him to become an immediate contributor.
“I think that we are headed back in the right direction,” Spartans coach Ryan Hagen said. “With as young a team as we have, we know that there’s going to have to be a lot of patience, but we’re looking to get better each day.”
“If we keep playing smart basketball and keep everyone in the game and playing together, I think we could do very well this year,” McLeod said.
Mahwah is attempting to rebuild after back-to-back winning seasons. The return of senior Ryan Straining, who was second on the team in scoring (11.6 average) and three-pointers (31) a year ago, was viewed as a major positive.
To the Thunderbirds’ dismay, the 6-2 combo guard sustained an apparent leg injury driving to the basket in the third quarter. He left the gym on crutches after the game.
Mahwah coach Mike Branagh believed that Straining had stepped on another player’s foot but was uncertain of the exact extent of the injury.
Guard Daivian Davis was the T-Birds’ top scorer with nine points, and Cormac Henriques was their leading rebounder with seven. Straining (4-for-4), Davis (2-for-2) and Kyle O’Malley (5-of-6) combined to help the home team sink 11 of its first 12 foul shots.