The Henninger Black Knights have a strong senior corp. Experienced players like Tevin Chisolm, Quashawn Gainey and Marquies Young are all bound to contribute on any given night. But the player who has been leading the way statistically is a junior, and he's this week's CNYCentral Athlete. Tommie Spinner is leading Section III in a number of statistical categories, averaging over 17 points a game, along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals. And while that's helped the Black Knights to a 10-3 record, a perfect 8-0 record in conference play, Spinner says he does more that just keep an eye on his stats.
"I just try to do whatever I can to make sure my team don't lose," says Spinner, "I try to pick up the tempo if we're down, I just try to pick us up."
"He keeps working hard at what he do," says Young. "he works on his shots and stuff during practice, off the court and on the court (it's) just focus."
And on a team that's already deep with experience, Head Coach Erik Saroney is enjoying the added bonus of having such a talented junior to help lead the way.
"I've been very happy with him in his junior year as far as his leadership," says head coach Saroney, "sometimes when you've got a lot of seniors it's hard for a junior to be a leader, but he's stepped up and been a real leader for us this year."
"We're close to him, I'm close to him," explains Young, "we're all just a family together, we're proud of him."
And those type of feelings seem mutual. Spinner says he's hungry to take this team as far as they can go, hoping to win a championship for the seniors in their final season.
