Photo courtesy of William Canon Players on the Belleville sixth grade travel basketball team, starting in the back row, Brandon Garcia, Isaiah Ramierz, Damien Bonanno, Pierre Jackson, Mason Zeigler, Lawrence Vanderbly. Kneeling are JP Canon, Kobe Gentolia, Michael Greene Jr, Bobby Canon, Adam Crisostomo, Justin Browne, Jayce Silva, Chris Mejia (not pictured) Coaches: William Canon, Al Wujciak, Coach Carlos
Players on the Belleville sixth grade travel basketball team, starting in the back row, Brandon Garcia, Isaiah Ramierz, Damien Bonanno, Pierre Jackson, Mason Zeigler, Lawrence Vanderbly. Kneeling are JP Canon, Kobe Gentolia, Michael Greene Jr, Bobby Canon, Adam Crisostomo, Justin Browne, Jayce Silva, Chris Mejia (not pictured) Coaches: William Canon, Al Wujciak, Coach Carlos
In a thrilling Championship game held on March 2 in West Orange, the Belleville sixth grade travel squad captured the 2024-2025 Suburban League title overcoming a 26-point first-half West Orange lead.
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Paced by point guard Bobby Canon’s 27 points, the championship trophy has returned to Belleville for the first time in more than a decade.
“To come back against a very skilled and talented West Orange team, a team that had only lost twice in the past 3 years, maybe one game in a hundred you can successfully reverse the momentum before the clock runs out,” said Head Coach William Canon. “For a sixth grade basketball team to score 52 points in the 16 minutes of the second-half is almost unheard of. I have certainly never seen it. It is a testament to the kind of young men who represent the township of Belleville; they never quit and they have learned how and, at times almost irrationally, expect to win.”
Canon said the team was helped by a large turnout of Belleville residents in attendance supporting the town team.
“The gymnasium was electric and you could feel hundreds of hearts pumping in that gymnasium,” Canon said. “It was truly an incredible way to end an amazing season. And I would like to give great credit to the West Orange basketball program; though the outcome was not what they sought, the players, coaches and fans alike were true sportsmen. I believe this is a result of both teams having genuine respect for each other.”
Canon also said the 14 young men on the Belleville team worked hard every single day in season to get better at the game of basketball.
“We are only successful because we put forth a total team effort and every one of those 14 players contributes,” Canon said. “We don’t get too hung up on who does all our scoring because we know, or at least have come to understand, that we win by playing defense. We have some very good athletes who play tenacious defense and they may never even show up in the scorebook.
Canon said the team played full court pressure defense for 32 minutes and it wears other teams down.
“It really does take special kids to prepare to do that and the team is very fortunate to have coach Wujciak, Silva and Browne who drill this defensive mindset everyday.”
Ten of the 14 boys on the basketball roster were also part of Belleville’s travel baseball team that went an undefeated 27-0 on the diamond in 2024.
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