By Matthew DeGeorge
During a timeout with eight seconds to play Friday afternoon, Matt Lindeman addressed the Penn Wood huddle with a calm voice. He turned to his whiteboard, sketched an inbounds defense and joined the cacophony of assistant coaches offering last-second refreshers — not to reach, not to foul a shooter, etc.Then Lindeman turned and watched the plan disintegrate quickly, only the front rim denying a contested jumper by Frankford’s Taleek Anderson and preserving a 48-47 win for the Patriots at the inaugural Big Game Hoops Holiday Showcase at Interboro.
That snapshot, one of dozens like it for the green team from Green Avenue, illustrated the two defining poles of the Patriots, of the double-edged sword of a moniker like “youthful talent.”
“It’s going to take some time to figure out how to play the right way, and then we can get to some of the things we were able to do last year,” Lindeman said. “They’re learning on the job, they’re playing hard. We’re going to have some mistakes, but as long as they keep a positive attitude, that’s what we really care about right now.”