JV Boys Basketball: Keimig looks to use college experience to help guide Knights

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

                       

Fresh faces have been the common theme for both the girls and boys sides of the Middletown High School Knights basketball program and the outlook for the Knights JV boys basketball team will be no different as former Middletown Knight John Keimig will take over after two years by Ron Engle who moves over to coach on the JV side for girls basketball.

Keimig had a storied career for Middletown tallying 332 rebounds, 186 steals, 397 assists, 137 three pointers, and the stat that’s most impressive, 1,174 points good for 5^th all time in Middletown basketball history.

After a one year parlay at Frederick Community College, Keimig headed to the University of North Carolina-Pembroke having a successful college career with the Indians with some of the highlights including facing NBA-bound Eric Gordon and the Indiana Hoosiers at famed Assembly Hall a picture which proudly adorns the college player photos section of the Middletown Basketball website.

Keimig is back now and after years of just helping out with Middletown is now officially head coach for the Knights and will look to make an immediate impact on the Knights by using his experience from playing high level college basketball to help a Knights team that showed promise finishing their freshman campaign with a 7-7 record at the freshman level.

Middletown’s biggest asset will be their physical men in the paint with the Knights’ definitely showing some size that will play into their favor over the course of the season.

Sophomores Matt Pritts and Garrett Johnson will be the playmakers for Middletown this season with both Pritts and Johnson looking to improve on the experience that they gained by playing on JV as freshman last year, a skill that the Knights hope will correlate into results.

Adding to the height and skill advantage for Middletown are newcomers Essam Bahsali and Zach Huff.

Bahsali will inside to the strengths of Pritts and Johnson as Bahsali, the tallest player on the team, giving Middletown some added depth on the outside and providing with some relief off the bench for Pritts and Johnson in case fatigue becomes an issue for the two or Keimig decides to move Pritts and Johnson outside to help the flow of the offense.

Helping to improve the flow of the offense, will be a Huff. Huff is a natural scorer who not only has a good nose for the ball but has showed skill in helping exploit defenses at times.

Huff’s biggest strength though lies in his shot as multiple times last year, Huff showed the ability to knock down the big shots when he needs to including three-pointers which most other sophomores might not be able to make.

The Knights biggest challenge is a challenge that most freshman or JV level teams face and that is maintaining a level of familiarity. Because of the large degree of transition that happens at the 9^th grade and JV levels trying to develop chemistry from year to year is a significant challenge.

Keimig, though is familiar with that having played for two new teams in two straight years in college and will look to bring that and the rest of his experience to the table to help the Knights succeed.