Fox Chapel boys ride defense, depth to early season success

By: Marty Stewart
Sunday, January 12, 2020 | 9:33 AM

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When the season began, Fox Chapel boys basketball coach Zach Skrinjar knew he had the makings of a good team. He just didn’t know how good.

“I had a lot of faith in this team,” he said.

That faith has been justified as the Foxes owned an 11-0 overall record and 3-0 section record as of Jan. 9. They have done it with injuries to leading scorer and rebounder Arnold Vento as well as Sam Brown. Brown hasn’t been able to play and Vento missed three games with an ankle injury.

“Both of those guys were all-section last year,” Skrinjar said. “But this team has the next-man-up mentality. We do what we have to do. We know we can’t control the injuries. We know that injuries are part of the game. This team knows they have to step it up when injuries occur.”

Skrinjar believes there are several key reasons for the team’s fast start.

“All season long, we have played defense at a high level,” he said.

“The team is buying into what we’re trying to do on both sides of the ball. We are an unselfish team where everybody knows their role.”

The Foxes aren’t a tall team, but Skrinjar isn’t concerned.

“We’re mostly in the 5-10 to 6-3 range, but our athleticism makes up for a lack of height,” he said. “This is the most athletic team we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

The Foxes are a young team, but that has been a plus.

“We’re probably the youngest team in the section but we really have a good group of sophomores,” Skrinjar said. “These first 11 games have been their only varsity experience, and they’ve come through for us. They’ve made a pretty good jump to varsity basketball.

“Guys like Eli Yofan, Lorenzo Jenkins, Will Livingston and Russell Fenton have proven that they can play. Our assistant coaches have done a great job of coaching these guys up.”

Leading scorers are Vento and Yofan, with both averaging around 16 points a game. Vento, Jenkins and Livingston have been leading the way on the boards.

“We have a lot of players who can score and a lot who can grab rebounds,” Skrinjar said. “We’re not relying on one or two players. This is a balanced team.”

Skrinjar is confident the strong play will continue in the second half of section play.

“We want to sprint to the finish line in February,” he said. “The more we’ve played together, the better we’ve gotten. We’ve improved in playing as a unit and our confidence continues to grow.”

He expects the section race to be a tight one.

“This is a balanced section,” Skrinjar said. “Latrobe, Hempfield, Norwin and Penn-Trafford are good teams. We can’t take a night off. Everybody will be looking to knock us off our perch in the second half. We have to be ready for that.”

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