Varsity Boys Basketball: Considine and Roys seek to guide a Knights team searching for consistency

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

                       

The past couple years for the Middletown High School varsity boys basketball team have been, well, unpredictable at best.

The 2012-2013 saw the Knights go that saw the Knights go 0-22 during the regular season, only to win their first game of the playoffs before bowing out in the second round of the playoffs.

The 2013-2014 season was almost the exact opposite of the previous season. The Knights racked up a 12-10 record during the regular season, won in the first round of the playoffs, and then almost threw a shock into the #1 seeded Oakdale Bears in the sectional semifinals, taking a lead of up to three throughout the course of the game before falling flat in the end and taking a loss to end their season.

This season the Knights will look to do what they haven’t done recently and establish a degree of consistency, with the team searching for another winning season and having a shot at a deep playoff run with sectional powerhouse Oakdale in the midst of a rebuilding year.

The best shot for Middletown to make its deep playoff run is this year not only based on the fact that the section in which Middletown is in has weakened section but that some of their greatest offensive assets from last year are returning.

Middletown will return six players from last year’s team to this team and add one senior giving them a grand total of 7, with all 7 seniors being very capable of making an impact.

The main catalyst for Middletown this year will be senior Matt Considine who over the course of the past 2 seasons has proven himself as a synamic scorer and falls into the category of a do-it-all.

Considine is naturally gifted from outside the arc and deep range in general, possessing a wicked stroke that is perfectly developed for scoring buckets. But, over the past year he has also developed excellent paint play, giving him another tool to add to an already impressive skill set.

Considine uses his strong body and aggressive play to not only pick up boards on both sides of the ball but to also make good work as a defender with a touch for setting up the play.

Complementing Considine this year will be senior Ian Roy, a player who is naturally gifted but is still looking for his breakout season having struggled to develop to the Varsity game last year.

Roy is the butter to Considine’s bread adding a strong mentality and playing the game with a certain toughness that has made him not only a pain for opponents but also using his toughness to pick up hard buckets in tough spots when the Knights need them.

The Knights will need to play strong from the jump if they want to succeed playing in one of the toughest areas for basketball in Maryland, with that quest starting tonight with a pre-season game against underdog Clear Spring at 7 p.m.