Shane Southwell knows better than most about the rich history of Rice High School basketball. He was on the court celebrating a city championship with the Raiders as a fifth grader and he did it again as a junior transfer a year ago when the Raiders defeated Christ the King in the CHSAA Class AA intersectional title game.
Rice finished 25-3 and went on to win the New York State Federation crown, as well, last year.
And that’s the goal for the Kansas State-bound senior – a second consecutive Federation championship.
“Back-to-back is special, not too many do that, especially two state championships,” Southwell said. “We’ve got a chance to be part of Rice history. We’re looking forward to that.”
It’s happened once before at Rice, when Kenny Satterfield, Andre Barrett and Kyle Cuffe won two straight state Federation titles 10 years ago. And Raiders coach Mo Hicks believes this team has a chance to stake its claim as one of the best in program history.
“I think they have the potential, but we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Hicks said. “We’ve still got guys who will be major contributors who haven’t played varsity basketball. We have Kadeem [Jack] and Jermaine Saunders, who are very, very good players, but they’re still learning. Our goal is just to get better on a daily basis. If we can do that, I think by the time February and March hits we can be just as good as any team.”
Despite losing Durand Scott (Miami) and James Stukes to graduation, Rice is the prohibitive favorite to win the seventh title in Hicks’ 16 years at the Harlem school. With three returning starters in Southwell, a 6-foot-7 point guard, Jack, a 6-foot-8 senior forward and Sanders, a 6-foot-5 junior forward – each Division I prospects — the Raiders are ranked as high as No. 8 nationally.
“I try to let them know that those are all predictions and we haven’t played a game yet,” Hicks said. “We’re only going to be as good as we play. We can’t pay attention to polls or rankings, we have to go out on a daily basis, work hard and take it a game at a time.”
Hicks said he likes the depth and length of his team – the Raiders can go 10 deep and eight can play multiple positions. Arguably the biggest newcomer is Da’Shawn Suber, who scored 20 points in a 72-60 win over Xaverian in the CHSAA freshman title game last year.
“It’s just a matter of him developing and understanding what we’re trying to do defensively early. That’s one of the main things with him,” Hicks said. “He can score, he’s a great offensive player as a sophomore. We’re a defensive orientated team, we’ve always been and scoring is a byproduct of that. He’s learning, he’s trying hard. If can turn the corner early, he can make us very good.”
Also making the jump to varsity is Melvin Robinson, a solid shooting sophomore, while 6-foot-5 junior Emmanuel Andujar, who was the best player on last year’s junior varsity city championship squad, has impressed Hicks in the preseason.
“He stayed down last year because his foot speed wasn’t the best, he couldn’t defend on the perimeter,” Hicks said of Andujar. “But now he’s 6-foot-5, he’s moving [on] the floor, he’s defending and he can pass.”
Add to that group 6-foot-6 junior Richard Council, a solid rebounder and defender who provides intangibles, and it’s easy to see why Rice is the favorite this year.
“There’s a long tradition at Rice High School of us winning championships and being successful and I think these guys are starting to understand that,” Hicks said. “They’re playing with that swagger.”