Young Rams eager to shine on court

Toward the end of last season, Havelock’s Tre Simmons stepped in for senior point guard Mike Jolly and proved he belonged on the varsity stage. He scored 19 points, helping lead Havelock to an overtime victory over J.H. Rose.

Now, a senior, Simmons is looking forward to more opportunities to showcase his skills on the court. He’s one of three returning players with varsity experience for the Rams.

“I am just trying to put up the best numbers I can,” Simmons said. “My role is going to be a scorer on offense and rallying the team on defense … getting us to where we need to be each game.”

Guards Justin Godette and Danny Webster Jr. are the other Havelock players with varsity experience. The trio of returning players combined to average 8.3 points per game last year.

“On paper, it doesn’t look good at all,” Havelock coach Bill Fryczynski said. “It’s kind of like rebuilding and getting guys to build their confidence up.”

The Rams offense lost all five starters from last year’s team, which went 11-14 and was knocked out of the playoffs by Hertford County in the first round.

That list of players lost includes Jolly (9.7 points, 3.8 assists, 4.1 steals), Jacorian Callier (12.6 points, 5.6 rebounds), Jeremy Duncan (12.1 points), D’Andre Covin (5.7 points, 4.1 rebounds) and Deylan Buntyn (4.6 points, 4.8 rebounds).

Callier, Duncan and Covin are all playing basketball at Lenoir Community College.

The Rams will also attempt to replace role players Alex Bell and Andy Lewis.

Fryczynski is expecting Godette to be a rebounder and scorer for Havelock this season. He said Godette has a 42-inch vertical jump.

“I’m looking for Godette to step up and do something,” Fryczynski said. “He is a leaper. He can jump right out of the gym.”

Although Havelock is relatively inexperienced, Fryczynski said his players made strides in preseason workouts. During the summer, the Rams competed against other area high schools in a tournament and won 10 of 13 games. They won eight of 10 games in another tourney and two of three at a basketball jamboree at East Carolina.

“What the character of this team is, I don’t know,” Fryczynski said. “I was very encouraged with what I saw during the summer.”

Havelock’s new-look roster includes a handful of players from last year’s junior varsity team, which won the 3A portion of the Coastal Conference last season.

Seniors Junior Bryant and Raheem Ross — along with juniors Taj Abdul-Kaudeyr, David Layne, Evan Gumbel and Jamier Bazemore — are battling for playing time.

Webster, Alex Malone and Kemo Richardson — all juniors — will begin practicing with the basketball team after the football season.

“It’s going to be a big opportunity for these guys that are coming up from the JV,” Fryczynski said.

Fryczynski believes that the backcourt of Simmons, Ross, Webster and Richardson should be the strength of the team.

Simmons said the quickness of the guards will hopefully give opponents problems.

“It think it’s going to be our defense that gets us most of our wins,” Simmons said. “Coach emphasizes that a lot. He tells us to play 100 percent on defense.”

Six-foot-7, 290-pound center Corey Robinson will add height and bulk to the roster. First-year high school player Tavarian Horne (6-foot-5) should also see time in the frontcourt.

Fryczynski said he expects to see struggles at the start of the season. By the end of the season, he believes the Rams can be competitive.

Havelock opens the season at New Bern Tuesday.

“For the beginning of the season, I just look at that portion as trying to build a little bit of depth,” Fryczynski said.