Fox Chapel Area boys basketball coach Zach Skrinjar and company are on the road again, this time traveling to Erieon March 8 for the first round of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs, where the Foxes will face Cathedral Prep. Both teams have nearly identical records (the Foxes are 15-11; the Rangers sit at 15-10), but each squad brings something different to the court.
Senior Jefferson “Boogie” Moorefield-Brown, who leads the team in assists and is often the team’s high scorer, has always brought an entertaining spark to the game. He has been watching a lot of film of the Erie team and assesses them this way: “They like to run transitions a lot, and they just go right into ball screens. They like to play one-on-one basketball, and I think that will work to our advantage because we enjoy faster games. What we bring to the court is one of the best defenses in the state.”
The decisions the Foxes players make and whether they can take advantage of opportunities are things within their control, but when they tip off against the Ramblers, they’ll face an unfriendly crowd on their home court. It’s nothing they haven’t faced before. And, if there’s one thing this team has learned this season, it’s how to adjust to adversity.
Overall, it’s been a season during which the Foxes have never had an opportunity to relax. They’ve dealt with myriad challenges that made it difficult to maintain consistency – injuries, illness, and a combination of more than two dozen different lineups to find the right chemistry and mix of talents.
“When we start a season, the first thing we address is how you respond to adversity and how that will be the most important thing in determining success or failure,” says coach Skrinjar, who, in his 15 years with the team, has taken them to states six times, three in the past three years. “I give our team credit for their ability to move forward after facing so many challenges. They did a tremendous job of refocusing and moving forward to get that fifth seed in the PIAA playoffs.”
The coach explains, “There has been dramatic improvement now that we have a more consistent starting lineup, and that has helped to improve our chemistry. We didn’t have that before.”
Senior Will Siegel is probably the most consistent player on the team and is known for putting everything on the line, whether it’s at practices or in games. He says gaining consistency as a team has come from trusting each other, on and off the court, and not necessarily from any strategic changes in game plans.
“Our approach has not changed at all for how we handle tight games in the end,” says Will. “We never give up at the end of games and do not take our feet off the gas. Our defense really hasn’t changed either; we just play whatever type of defense best combats the team we are playing against.”
In addition to Will, Boogie has embraced his role as a sixth man off the bench, although no one considers him anything but a starter. He’s that important to their game when he’s in control of the ball.
“Asher White is very similar to Will in that he works his butt off and is a foundation for this group along with Thomas Patterson,” says coach Skrinjar. “But it’s the entire group working together and their winning attitude that has kept us moving.
“I’m very proud of this team; they have exceeded my expectations. We just remind them at this point in the season that we should not take for granted the opportunity to get to these playoffs. Having been there before, we’ve learned from what we’ve done in the past. Even leading up until a few days before the championship game, we are still getting better and are in our best form.”