Blue Devil Basketball Begins Off-Season Workouts

Huntington High School boys’ basketball players have begun their off-season workouts, participating in intramurals on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 6-7 p.m. The coaching staff is being reshuffled with Peter Lipka returning as varsity head coach and Patrick Reilly coming in as the varsity assistant and Joe Crocco taking over the junior varsity squad.

The Huntington varsity is coming off a 5-15 season. “The team was extremely resilient through the ups and downs of the season,” Lipka said. “From November all the way to February, they gave maximum effort and stayed unified. I am extremely proud of the boys for maximizing their potential.”

Huntington was led by Jordan Thorbourne, who averaged 9.1 points per game and was the team’s leading rebounder; Justin D’Eloia, who average 8.6 points; James Vohs, who led the Blue Devils in assists and averaged 5.4 points and Shamell Spratley, who averaged 9.6 points, including 40 three-pointers.

“Jordan was our leading rebounder and on many nights he was our leading scorer,” Lipka said. “He’s a great kid. Justin is a three year varsity starter. He’s tough as nails, never complained and was always tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best player. James has battled adversity like nobody else with multiple injuries. He was our smartest player and best all-around contributor. Shamell was the youngest of our starting core. He averaged the most points and made the most three pointers. His future is extremely bright.”

The team’s graduating seniors include Thorbourne, D’Eloia, Vohs, Aaron Idise, George Mueger and Nicholas Plachta.

“The future looks bright,” Lipka said. “Four sophomores dressed for varsity with two of them getting significant minutes. Returners are Jermine Campbell, Nick Normoyle, Shariff Penalo, Shamell Spratley, Will Donaghy, James Ruthkowski, Jesse Perez, Shates Miller and Robbie Campbell. The goal is to make the playoffs and continually improve.”