By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

One mantra for the East St. John varsity basketball team has been “Dominate is what we do.”

The squad’s elementary counterpart has taken notice.

The East St. John elementary squad recently completed its season with a record of 41-2 under coach Mark Creecy, building off of a 2009-2010 season in which the Wildcats finished 28-11.

“Basically, with us being a year older, it definitely helped,” said Creecy. “Guys going through growth spurts, and just more maturity. Those kinds of things.”

The team was led in scoring by 6-foot-2 combo guard Malik Crowfield, who is ranked seventh in the nation among seventh graders by Hoop Scoop Online. Crowfield finished the season on a high note, scoring 34 in the team’s final game.

“He’s played for a long time,” said Creecy. “It’s just a matter of seeing his talent translate to the next level. Hopefully he keeps on progressing as he is.”

Eighth grader Raekwon McKnight was the team’s second leading scorer. 6-foot-4 Jayrin Jackson just completed his first full season with the team, and Creecy said he has a high ceiling.

Creecy said that a big hope for the program is to see the school’s athletes make the transition to East St. John, which recently completed the first undefeated district season in school history.

“We run a lot of the same things that they do, in terms of playing up tempo and the press,” said Creecy. “One of our top priorities is that we want to see these guys get to East St. John and keep the team together … to see them have this kind of success and make bigger names for themselves.”

He said a big key for the team’s improvement this season was simply familiarity with one another. During the summer, he estimated the team played 100 games, making it a very experienced unit by the end of this season.

“When you’re talking about 150 games, it all pays off,” said Creecy. “Just the familiarity with one another is a big thing.

“We should have pretty much everyone back next season, including all five starters. So I think we’ll be right back where we are.”