Cape boys’ hoops players are ready to run
During his playing days at Cape Henlopen, Shemik Thompson starred on boys' basketball teams that reached three consecutive state tournament quarterfinals, earning trips to the University Of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center each year from 2005 through 2007. The Vikings have returned to “the Bob” just once since then, but Thompson, hired as Cape’s head coach in summer 2019, is determined to lead them back sooner rather than later.
The Vikings came up well short in Thompson’s first season at the helm, finishing 6-13 in 2020 and missing the state tournament for the second consecutive year. Although Cape graduated four of the top five scorers from that squad, Thompson sees plenty of promise in the gym this winter and envisions a young, selfless team playing at a breakneck pace.
“We’ll be really good at passing the ball and finding open guys,” Thompson said at a Dec. 19 morning practice session. “We’ve been doing a great job of that. That’s been a focus for us – trying to find guys in transition, find guys in half-court sets that we run, and look for easy shots. We should be a quick team, up and down the floor, and one that’s smart with the basketball.”
Thompson has stressed two skills during the first two weeks of practice: communication and pace.
“We’ve really been focusing on talking to each other on the court, whether it’s defensively, offensively, or just mentally,” Thompson said. “If a guy misses a shot, [someone should tell him], ‘You got the next one.’ [There should be] no quiet practices. As far as playing with pace, we just need to do a better job of that [this year] offensively, especially since we don’t have a lot of size.”
The Vikings will look to 6-foot-2-inch senior wing Ja’Vaughn Burton to light up the scoreboard. A born scorer who loves to run and never backs down, Burton poured in a team-high 14.7 points per game last year, knocking down 27 three-pointers along the way.
“We’re gonna be good in transition,” Burton said. “As a team, we shoot very well. We’re fast and already have a great bond as a group, so I think we’ll move the ball really well.”
Burton will be joined in the backcourt by junior Kay’von Jackson, senior Nathan Sivels and junior Brody Pedersen. Jackson and Sivels averaged four points and two assists apiece as part-time starters a year ago, turning heads with their quickness, while the sharp-shooting Pedersen missed last season with a foot injury.
Manning the middle will be 6-foot-4 sophomore Dylan Fannin, a skilled big guy who contributed four points and three rebounds per night while shooting 65 percent from the floor last season.
Six juniors round out the roster: guard Nicolas Francois, guard Hank D’Ambrogi, forward Tiarnan Hefferan, guard Owen Smith, forward Zimere Bolden and forward Robert Kukfa.
Due to COVID-19 concerns, the Vikings’ schedule has been shortened from 20 to 14 games, all of which are against Henlopen Conference North teams. Cape will open its season Tuesday, Jan. 12, at Sussex Tech.
