By Rachel Jeffries
The Men’s Varsity Basketball Team has made the 2017-2018 season the best on record for McNick. They currently have a record of 15-1 overall and a GCL record of 6-1.
The varsity team includes sophomore Evan Brunot, juniors Patrick Johnson, Luke Brooks, and Bryce Kellerman, and seniors Matthew Neuzil, Cole Burdick, Ryan Reidy, James Ehlers, Michael Lang, and Ryan Belmont. Reidy and Burdick are the varsity captains, making this Reidy’s third year as captain and Burdick’s second. The McNicholas Rockets are coached by Tim Monahan, making this his twenty-second year of being a basketball coach and head varsity coach at McNick for the past nine years.
“Our defense and rebounding has gotten a lot better this year, [so] we are holding teams to lower scores and scoring more ourselves,” Reidy said. “It’s great that everyone on our team is really close. It has made us a better team on and off the court.”
McNicholas’ most recent game was on Friday Jan. 26 against Bishop Fenwick. The score was 54-34 making it the team’s 15th win and 6th conference win this season. The Rockets were led by Reidy with 18 points, Burdick with 15, and Ehlers with 11, scoring 44 points all together.
According to Monahan, the Rockets’ goals for the season are to continue their record to win the League, win the GCL, and to make it to the University of Dayton for the tournament. They won 13 straight games until losing their first game to Purcell Marian by seven points on Jan. 20.
“This is the most successful season I’ve had as a coach,” Monahan said. “All our goals still remain the same after losing to Purcell. We faced a really good team, but I’m proud of our boys. They fought ‘til the end. They understand that it’s not over yet.”
The Rockets have six games left in the season. They will continue the season by playing LaSalle, Roger Bacon, Columbus Africentric, Badin, Anderson, and finishing with Purcell Marian at McNicholas High School.
“We only have a couple home games left, and we really want to see a packed student section,” Burdick said. “We need a big crowd the rest of the season.” The next time the Rockets will play will be at LaSalle High School on Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
