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Sports

Maine East basketball starts over

Dave Genis inherits 5-22 team with plans to stress defense in first season with Blue Demons.

There were times in Friday night's 67-30 loss to Niles West that first-year Maine East basketball coach Dave Genis could do nothing more than shake his head.

From the opening tip, the Blue Demons were no match for the speedy and aggressive Wolves, and Genis knew it was going to be that way. Still, there were those moments when he could not believe what he was watching.

Genis knew what he was getting into when he took the job this summer. He knows Maine East. His wife has taught special education at the Park Ridge school for 24 years.

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Genis also knows the basketball landscape of the Central Suburban League, having coached both the boys and girls at Niles West, leading the boys team to its first conference title in 27 years.

Genis, who still teaches science at Niles West, eventually moved on to Northside Prep before joining the coaching staff at Maine East.

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"They won a regional three years ago,'' Genis said. "They played for the regional championship two years ago, but last year was not so good.

"They had a prolific scorer (Nusrath Kahn). I think last year was all about him. A lot of the other guys didn't get the opportunity to learn to play high school basketball. I think they just sat around and watched him do it all.

Genis said he saw the effects of the 5-22 season and the one-man game plan on the players who returned for this season.

"I saw some of the seniors were almost hesitant, or didn't have the confidence to be aggressive offensively,'' Genis said. "They are working hard and some of the kids are transferring some of the skills we are teaching them to situations."

It didn't show much Friday. The Wolves scored dozens of easy baskets because the Blue Demons (2-5 this season) weren't able to keep up with them on the breakouts which resulted from the missed Maine East shots on the other end.

"We have to learn how to defend,'' Genis said.

To their credit, the Blue Demons did not quit in Friday's game, even after the Wolves expanded their 24-point lead to 34 points by scoring the first 10 points of the second half. But the players are not above admitting that the losing, and the margins of defeat, take their toll.

"We just have to come out and focus,'' said point guard Aaron Shannon, a converted shooting guard who brings the ball up for the Blue Demons. "We can't get down on ourselves when we dig a big hole. We have to keep playing."

"This year will be a lot of different than last year,' said guard Jordan Jones, a junior who got some playing time last season. "Most of the players on our team are better, and have stepped up to the plate as opposed to last year. Now that (Khan) is gone, people feel like they can get themselves involved more. Last year we all just were getting rebounds and getting it back to him."

But with Khan gone, the Blue Demons are sorely missing scoring. Because of that, Genis is stressing defense, figuring a good defensive effort will help make up for a difficult offensive one.

"He has stressed defense because we need that on our team,'' Jones said. "Last year we really didn't play too much defense, we were all about offense. He is trying to make us a defensive team and letting our offense come to us."

"My expectations for these guys is that they learn what it takes to play successfully at the high school varsity level,'' Genis said. "I want them to play at a different level with a different energy than I saw in the past."

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