South Kent team advances to playoffs

SOUTH KENT — Though the South Kent School’s varsity basketball team had challenges this season, including several key players out with injuries, they earned the second seed in the Hudson Valley Athletic League (HVAL) playoff.The Cardinals will have home court advantage against third seed Forman School on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 4 p.m.South Kent finished the regular season with a record of 6-2. Forman’s regular season record was 4-4. The Cardinals defeated Forman in both games played during the regular season. “It has been an up and down season,” coach Kelvin Jefferson said. “We had a number of injuries this season, two concussions, ankle injuries, hip and foot injuries.”The coach said they have not had the entire team together since before the Christmas break.Jefferson said three of the team’s seniors are committed to play basketball next season at college. Point guard Shane Rector will attend Rutgers University, forward Kimall Richards will attend Xavier University and shooting guard A.J. Edwards is committed to Yale University.Jefferson said Rector is an important player. He was out for a while with a pulled muscle, but since his return has played great basketball. In a recent game he scored 35 points.“A number of other players are also being heavily recruited by colleges,” he said. “We have a good team this year. We can always count on them to play hard. I ask a lot of them and they are always willing, when necessary, to play out of position.”He added, “This year what I really wanted to do was bring in some guys who were good kids, good citizens and kids I thought would be able to play Division 1 basketball or get scholarships.”The coach said he was very happy with this team.“They came here and academically were a success. Every day I go to practice I am looking forward to spending time with them,” he said.