West Orange HS boys’ basketball team eyes daily improvement this summer

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WEST ORANGE – For the West Orange High School boys’ varsity basketball team, the main goal for this summer is to improve each day.

Gerald Silvera, the team’s summer coach, reiterated that point as the Mountaineers were warming up prior to their game with Bloomfield in the annual Bloomfield Summer League on July 5.

“We just want to get better every day,” said Silvera, who is in his third year coaching the WOHS summer team and also coaches the team in the fall. “It’s not about wins or losses (this summer). It’s one game at a time. We want to learn how to win the close games.”

Trailing throughout the whole game, the Mountaineers found themselves in close game with Bloomfield, but couldn’t pull out the victory, falling, 56-51.

Last summer, the Mountaineers won the Bloomfield Summer League championship. They continued that momentum into this past high school season in the winter under head coach Greg Tynes as they finished with a stellar 19-4 record, including repeating as Super Essex Conference-LIberty Division champions with an undefeated 12-0 divisional mark.

This year’s team will be young after losing several key players to graduation last month, such as guards Pat Jamison and Chris Smith, and forwards Pat Jamison, Andrew Scholz, Jeremiah Moore and Doug Hughes.

However, the Mountaineers return a few players who were solid contributors. They include rising junior point guard Nashiem White, rising senior forward Gabe Silvera – Gerald’s son – and rising sophomore forward Stephon Sheard.

Though they will lose some size, the Mountaineers will be more scrappy, said Gerald Silvera, who is an elementary school physical education teacher in Montclair and runs the Montclair Rec basketball during the school year.

The Bloomfield Summer League features 24 high school teams with games played Mondays through Thursdays beginning at 5 p.m. Each team will make the playoffs that begin the week of July 25. The semifinals and championship game will both be held July 28.