HSMSE’s Boys Basketball team has improved a great deal from 2017-2018, going from sixth place to first place in two years in the Manhattan B North Division. Their success was due to many things, one being junior Tomer Oron’s improved performance.
Two seasons ago, HSMSE had only four wins and 11 losses. They had a massive turnaround in the next two seasons, finishing 10-4 in 2018-19, and in 2019-20, they won the division with a 13-1 record.
Reasons for their meteoric rise are due to their improved experience. Many of their top players, such as Tomer Oron, went from scoring approximately seven points per game as a freshman, to 22 points per game this season. This was a similar case for other team players, including Toby Gassner (6.5 ppg) and Alex Guimaraes (12 ppg).
“We improved by playing harder, and playing together,” Tomer Oron said.
Coach Richard Epstein also put cooperation as another reason for the team's improvement.
“Emphasizing teamwork, and playing together made us much better than the individual parts,” Epstein said. “We had a mix of veterans and newcomers, and the younger players were very dedicated to making the team as good as possible.”
