Hopewell Junior High Basketball
Mixed Results for the 7th and 8th Grade Boys Basketball Teams
OHIO TWP- The Hopewell Vikings Junior High basketball teams went up against a new opponent on Friday afternoon as they traveled to Eden Christian Academy.
For Hopewell’s 7th grade squad their dominating season continued. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the same case for the 8th grade team as they took on one of the most challenging and talented opponents, they’ll face all season.
A number of the Viking players have gotten taller over the offseason but still weren’t able to match up against an extremely large Eden Christian squad, who had two players in their front court, that were likely 6’2″ with the other one being 6’0″.
However, not only were they tall but they possessed nice basket skills and were too much for this Hopewell team. Eden Christian ran a very successful trap and full court pressure that was made even more difficult with their size.
To Hopewell’s credit, everyone on the roster battled extremely hard and their compete level was very high. It would’ve been easy to get discouraged and not play as hard with the large deficit they faced but that didn’t happen at all, so that was impressive to see.
Roman Crisci led Hopewell in scoring with 8 eight points (two 3-pointers), followed by Zack Sampson with 4 points and Josh Gill and Braxton Pinto each with 2 points.
The Vikings record now stands at 2-1 with their next game taking place on Tuesday at Moon.
7TH GRADE RECAP-
Coach Dave Johnson’s 7th grade team had a 3rd impressive, actually dominating performance of the 2024-25 season.
After opening up by throttling both Ambridge and Montour, things expected to get a bit more challenging against Eden Christian Academy but that wasn’t the case.
Hopewell once again got out to a large lead and eventually went on to a 46-22 victory. Honestly, the biggest issue that these kids are having is staying mentally in the game once they get out to such a big lead.
As mentioned before, Coach Johnson’s rotation at the start of the season has been to play his starting unit for the entire 1st and 3rd quarters and his second unit for the entire 2nd and 4th quarters. That continued yesterday.
This team is extremely talented and possess a ton of different components of a winning team. HSN has attended all three games this season and here a handful of players that have stood out.
–Nico Amadio is your prototypical point guard. Has the ability to score but is content and willing to run the offense and get the ball to his teammates. That’s very important.
–Christian Fischer is a bigtime defensive presence that makes it very difficult for the opposition to get anything up around the rim. Fischer has gotten so tall and is no doubt Hopewell’s best defensive player. Fischer also gobbles up a ton of offensive and defensive rebounds.
–Kaein Dowling can get to the hoop and score. Dowling and Vin Smetana are Coach Johnson’s leaders on the second unit.
–Kaleb Gonzalez is the toughest player for opponents to match up against because of his size and athleticism. Gonzalez is a bucket machine around the hoop. The paring of Gonzalez and Fischer on the court at the same time gives Hopewell a big advantage.
–Ryder Kostrick might be Hopewell’s all-around best player because of his skill defensively. Not only can Kostrick get to the hoop at will and make shots from the outside, but he gets so many buckets because of his defensive skill. Big-time future.
–Vin Smetana in a lot of ways is a lot like Kostrick because of what he brings offensively and defensively. Smetanta is a very good ball handler, is able and willing to pass to his teammates, can create his own offense because of his dribbling but like Kostrick, plays really good defense.
Here’s a recap of Hopewell’s 3rd win of the season, yesterday against Eden Christian Academy.
1st Quarter Summary:
-After Hopewell won the opening tip, Kostrick opened up the scoring with a deep 3-pointer, Hopewell 3-0.
-DEFENSE, Kostrick with the steal and takes it to the other end for a layup, Hopewell 5-0.
-Kostrick with an entry pass to Fischer, he misses but Gonzalez is there for the rebound and layup, Hopewell 8-0.
-Kostrick gets into the lane, and after a nice jump step, connects for 2. Hopewell 10-0.
End of 1st Quarter: Hopewell 11 Eden Christian Academy 4.
2nd Quarter Summary:
-Smetana gets the rebound and after dribbling up finds Dowling with a nice pass over the defense for 2, Hopewell 13-6.
-Hopewell has been very effective all season with their inbound plays and that continued in this game as David Johnson connects with Dylan Ankrom for 2, Hopewell 16-6.
-Smetana with a nice move as he connects on a step back baseline jumper, Hopewell 18-6.
-Nice trip down, Smetana with a nice entry pass to Dowling for 2 more, Hopewell 20-6.
-Hopewell is inbounding the ball from the sidelines and after receiving the pass, Dowling sprints down the lane for 2, Hopewell 22-7.
-Eden attempts to press Hopewell but it doesn’t work as Smetana breaks it easily gets to the paint and once again finds Dowling, who finishes, Hopewell 24-9.
-With 6 seconds left in the half, Ankrom gets the steal and takes it in for the layup, Hopewell 26-9.
Halftime: Hopewell 26 Eden Christian Academy 9
3rd Quarter Summary:
-Amadio easily gets in the paint and dishes off to Fischer for the layup, Hopewell 28-11.
-Hopewell gets in transition, this time, Amadio finds Gonzalez, who misses his first shot but gets the rebound and 2 points, Hopewell 33-13.
-Gonzalez shows his quickness by getting across the baseline for 2 more, Hopewell 35-13.
-More Gonzalez and Fischer as Gonzalez with the shot attempt and Fischer is there to clean things up with the rebound and layup, Hopewell 37-15.
-Last basket of the quarter comes result of a very nice, athletic layup by Kostrick, plus he’s fouled, Hopewell 39-15.
End of 3rd Quarter: Hopewell 39 Eden Christian Academy 15
4th Quarter Summary:
-Dowling with a nice pass to Johnson, who connects from the baseline, Hopewell 41-15.
-Fischer with the defensive play of the game, a HUGE block shot, he then grabs the loose ball and throws a base pass to the other end of the floor to Dowling, who finishes, Hopewell 43-15.
-Last hoop of the game comes as a result of a nice pass by Smetana to Enzo Leopardi, Hopewell 46-21.
FINAL SCORE: Hopewell 46 Eden Christian Academy 22
After the game, HSN talked with Gonzalez and Amadio about the start of the season.
