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Sports

Georgetown Prep Struggling, But Optimistic

Little Hoyas lost their leading scorer, but hope turnaround is in store as IAC Tournament approaches.

Georgetown Prep coach Herb Krusen felt like his Little Hoyas had finally started to turn the corner.

After enduring four straight losses to start the season, Georgetown Prep had won nine of its next 11 games and looked to be firmly establishing itself as a legitimate contender in the race for an Interstate Athletic Conference (IAC) championship.

Yet just three weeks later, Krusen once again finds himself searching for answers as the Little Hoyas are in the process of trying to replace 6-foot-9 senior forward Taylor Abt, a Holy Cross commit, who will miss the rest of the season with mononucleosis.

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Abt, Georgetown Prep’s leader in both scoring (17.1 points per game) and rebounding (10.9 per game), missed the last four games after being limited in the previous two. The Little Hoyas (10-11) are 1-5 during that stretch, with four blowout losses, including Tuesday’s 81-57 loss to Episcopal.

“I thought the team was really coming on,” Krusen said. “We had some good wins and were really playing well. I thought we were getting better every game and were gaining some momentum. But now we’ve got to find a way to play without [Abt].”

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Without Abt, the Little Hoyas, who relied heavily on their size in the post, have suddenly been forced to make the shift to a guard-oriented attack. Speed and quickness, not the dominant post play of Abt and 6-foot-7, 285-pound junior Mike Boland, have become important.

Boland (13.1 points, 7.3 rebounds per game) remains a focal point of the offense, but Krusen will be looking for more out of point guard J.T Strickland (7.4 points, 5.9 assists) and sharpshooter Denny McCarty (10.1 points), who has connected on a team-high 57 three-pointers while hitting 40 percent of his three-point attempts.

“Obviously [losing Taylor] is a crushing blow,” Boland said. “But it’s also an opportunity for someone else to step up and to try and fill the scoring and rebounding [void]. I don’t think that’s going to happen with just one guy. But collectively, we have to do that. I still think we have a chance to be successful. But not having Taylor is obviously a blow to our team.”

Strickland voiced a similar sentiment.

“We had kind of figured ourselves out as a team,” Strickland said. “Now, we’re more perimeter-based. Our coaches have made it clear to us that we still have a strong team. We believe that and we’ll just try to keep chugging on. We still think we can win the IAC.”

And while Krusen knows that will be difficult to do without Abt, he remains optimistic for Georgetown Prep’s final three regular season games, as well as the IAC tournament.

“It’s been a tough year, but I’m proud of the guys,” Krusen said. “I’m not sure how far we can go without Taylor, but we’re working hard and the guys are getting better. We’ve changed a little bit of our philosophy, but we’re still excited about the future, and about where we’ve come from, and are looking forward to the stretch run here.”

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