Nevolo will look to keep winning tradition alive as new Somerville boys basketball coach

Just two months after Somerville High School’s Joe D’Alessandro unexpectedly retired as boys basketball coach, the Pioneers basketball program is getting ready for a season without him on the bench for the first time in 26 years.

The NJSIAA Hall of Fame coach stepped down in October in order to spend more time with his family, while his second family will look to build off of his success and remain a perennial powerhouse in the Skyland Conference.

To maintain the winning tradition, the Pioneers hired from within and promoted Chris Nevolo, a Somerville alumnus who spent the past three years as the varsity assistant and JV head coach.

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While the rookie head coach will certainly be installing several new plays and techniques to both the offense and defense, Nevolo will not be making drastic changes as he plans to keep several staples that made this team into a yearly powerhouse.

“I think we’re going to keep a lot of the values that Joe D’Alessandro installed for his 26 years at Somerville,” Nevolo said. “The first thing is man-to-man defense. That has always been a staple of our program.”

The solid man-to-man defense has helped the Pioneers capture 14 Skyland Conference Valley division titles, and this year the Pioneers will go for No. 15 with defense as the team’s main priority.

Senior Alex Willenbrock, a 6-foot-6, first-year starter will be contesting shots at the rim as center and in the front court, senior point guard Rob Melillo will be faced with the tough task of defending the opponent’s best point guard while senior Will Sokol will be guarding the wing position.

Melillo and Sokol will not be only guarding the opponent’s best players, but will also take on the leadership role as the two seniors are the only returning lettermen from last year’s team.

“Me and Will as the returning starters, we try to get together and push everyone to their limits,” Melillo said. “In practice, we get on everyone and make sure everyone is up to par. We have two younger kids that are starting so we got to make sure they get used to this fast style of play.”

Junior power forward Chris Elwood and sophomore shooting guard Da’Shaun Smith will be the two young starters who will be contributing on the offense side. Smith is a transfer student, who played last year on the St. Joseph (Met.) freshman team, but is looking to contribute to his hometown school with his quick speed and good jumper.

“He’s a very good athlete, he can shoot the ball and he’s just a tough kid,” Nevolo said. “We’re asking a lot out of him but he’s got a lot of talent so that always helps."

Elwood, a 6-foot-5 forward, will provide most of the scoring on the team as his length, ability to put the ball on the ground and shoot, makes him a defensive nightmare for opposing coaches.

The Pioneers will use their length to make up for their inexperience at their varsity level as the team tries to replace graduated seniors JoJo Mosca and Randy Walko, who combined for 32.2 points per game last year.

Last year, the Pioneers reached the first Somerset County Tournament final since 1999 and later advanced to the North 2 Group III semifinals, where they lost 48-40.

“Obviously, we have very big losses from last year, but we have some talent that we think could fill their spots,” Nevolo said.

Nevolo, who played under D’Alessandro from 2001-2005, hope his team can contend for the program’s third-consecutive Valley Division title.

With the foundation already laid out by the legendary coach, the program is in good hands as Nevolo has rejuvenated the players with his upbeat coaching style.

“Obviously, you can never replace a legendary coach but Chris Nevolo is doing a great job,” Sokol said. “He’s doing stuff new but keeping a lot of the old stuff to make sure that the tradition of the program stays the same, but he’s bringing new ideas, which are already working and the results will follow I believe.”

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Gill St. Bernard's, which lost three starters, will be a very young and talented team this season. Seniors Michael Morreale and Evan Storch will be looked to to provide leadership, while the duo of Alex Schachne and Paul Mulcahy will be one of the top backcourts in New Jersey. TJ Chaney and newcomers Will Yarbrough and Brad Bundschuh will be important pieces to this season's success. The Knights should be a top team in Somerset County once again, with key games against Ridge and Rutgers Prep.

Bound Brook lost a great deal of its scoring to graduation from a team that advanced to the Central Group I final for only the second time since 1979 and knocking off state power Point Beach. Bound Brook will again look to compete in the Skyland Conference Valley Division, where the Crusaders get tested every night by quality bigger schools. Bound Brook will be led by returning guards Evian Brown (6.1 ppg., 3.5 apg., 2.5 rpg.) and Kyle Frauenheim (10.2 ppg., 2.7 rpg.) and sharpshooter RJ Frazier. The front court will be very deep and strong with EJ Vargas, Tyson Amaker, Noah Smith, Jaqere Tedder and Cardell Wiggins.

Michael DePaolo takes over a Delaware Valley team that returns several players with varsity experience who are hungry to succeed. The team expects to be competitive, successful and carry a winning attitude to get back to the success the Terriers had during the mid-2000's. Delaware Valley has set goals to be above .500 and make a run in counties and states. Kevin Scanlan and Christian Hlinka have become leaders on the court and in the weight room since the fall workouts began, while Joe Cansfield and Brian Godown have stepped up in recent weeks and become leaders on the floor. The Terriers have had a lot of pieces of the puzzle come together in the early weeks of the season.

Jose Rodriguez takes over at Plainfield after positions as an assistant at St. Joseph (Met.) and head coach at Carteret. Rodriguez, who was an All-Area, All-County and All-State player at Carteret, will look to get the Cardinals to be competitive in the Watchung Division while developing the younger players for the future. The team will look for leadership from a reliable and committed senior class, while expecting production from Romey Talley and Dante Porter, as well as the rest of the supporting junior class.

Union Catholic will look to fill the holes left behind by George Papas, Zahir Newell and Mikey Watkins, as well as try and find its rhythm early as it plays one of the toughest schedules in New Jersey with games against the likes of Roselle Catholic and the Patrick School. Despite the early challenges, the Vikings will look to be the top seed in the Union County Tournament and make a deep run in South Non-Public A, where they've lost to St. Augustine the last two seasons.

COURIER NEWS PRESEASON TOP 10

1. Gill St. Bernard's (25-5)

2. Somerville (24-4)

3. Hunterdon Central (24-5)

4. Bound Brook (21-8)

5. Union Catholic (17-8)

6. Westfield (18-9)

7. Montgomery (14-8)

8. Ridge (17-8)

9. North Plainfield (19-6)

10. North Hunterdon (14-10)