West Xtra: LINCOLN PARK SENIOR MAKES UP FOR LOST TIME
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Lincoln Park's Trey Hosack, a Hopewell resident, drives in a game against Shaler at Ambridge.
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Trey Hosack admits he is trying to make up for lost time ... and a not-so-wise decision.
Hosack did not play basketball last season for Lincoln Park in Midland. That's because the WPIAL Board of Control ruled him ineligible for athletics when he transferred to Ambridge. The decision was upheld by the PIAA. There went his junior season.
"Two weeks later I came back to Lincoln Park," he said. "You only have four years to play [high school basketball] and you have to take advantage of them all. I kind of made mistakes by leaving ... this is a great program. I made a mistake, so I get three years instead of four."
He missed out on a second trip to the WPIAL Class A championship game -- Lincoln Park has been in the final at the Palumbo Center the past two years -- and a trip to the PIAA final at Penn State.
Hosack, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, could get an opportunity to enjoy both of those trips this year if his play keeps improving.
It is Hosack, not 6-11 Temple recruit Devontae Watson or 6-6 1/2 sophomore sensation Ryan Skovranko, who leads the Leopards in scoring. He is averaging 18 points a game and gives the team something it didn't have the past two seasons ... a dependable 3-point shooter who can also handle the basketball.
He scored 13 points Tuesday night as the Leopards (17-4, 9-0) won at Union, 81-41. He had 20 Saturday in a non-league game at East Liverpool, Ohio.
"Trey is sometimes the X factor for us," Lincoln Park coach Mark Javens said. "He's very aggressive offensively. When he figures out more when to go and when to slow, he'll be even better."
Hosack, who lives in the Hopewell School District with his mother, is the perfect complement to the inside play of Watson and the slashing style of Skovranko. Opponents have a hard time double-teaming Watson close to the basket because Hosack can shoot the ball.
Plus, he has been getting better at passing the ball inside if opponents step out on him.
"Teams have scouted us and they know we are going to go to Trey," Javens said. "What he has to understand is that he doesn't have to make all of the plays."
Hosack isn't shy about wanting the basketball at crunch time. In a non-section game against Class AAAA Shaler at the Pittsburgh Basketball Club's Legends Classic at Ambridge two weeks ago, he got off an off-balance 3-point attempt at the buzzer that just missed. It would have tied the game.
He made two free throws with 3 seconds left in a victory against Simon Gratz in Philadelphia. He took a shot that would have tied the game this past Saturday night in a 70-68 loss before a packed house at East Liverpool.
The fact that he can connect from outside the arc hasn't happened by accident. Hosack worked on his shooting ability this past summer.
"I'd go to the courts by the junior high in Hopewell and shoot from noon until 5 p.m. every day," he said. "Me and my dad would have to go buy nets and put them up because people would cut them down. And those rims [on the baskets] make a difference in your shoot."
Anyone who has ever played on an outdoor court with double rims knows that a shot, especially a jump shot, has to be almost perfect or it is not going in.
Although Hosack enjoys taking jump shots, he understands that isn't necessarily the way Lincoln Park, which has wrapped up the Section 1-A title, wants to go after opponents.
"We've got a 6-11, Division I player [Watson], so we're going to work it inside out," he said. "We've got some good perimeter shooters but we look inside first."
He also understands that at his height, he will need to handle the basketball and make good decisions if he wants to play at the next level. Hosack said California (Pa.) University has shown some interest.
"I prefer coming off the ball [and shooting]. But since I'm only a 6-1 guard I've had to work on my ballhandling ability."
What Javens likes most is what he calls Hosack's "basketball IQ." That's something, Javens said, the team's guards have lacked in the past. He also likes Hosack's aggressiveness and that his defense keeps improving.
"It probably hurt him in terms of the game of basketball," Javens said when asked how much Hosack's not playing last season cost him. "Obviously, he's played a lot, so he has gotten better there. But the game of basketball is played from the neck up ... if you can't think out there, you can't play.
"He's been super for us. We are not where we are without him."
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
