PENNINGTON — Head coach Chander Fraser-Pauls likes to say that every team has its own journey, and so far, the latest chapter of Pennington boys basketball has been one of the best in program history. The Red Hawks took down rival Hun at Sparks Gymnasium on Thursday night, 84-73, to improve their record to 8-3, which is Pennington’s best 11-game start to a season since the 2013-14 campaign. Is this team even better than last winter’s breakout squad that finished 16-6 with a Mercer County Tournament title? “I think so — 100 percent,” said junior guard Dylan Napoleon, who poured in 18 points and nine rebounds against Hun. “We have a lot more taller guys, new players. I think we’re just more tough than last year.” This squad returned the top-four scorers from last year along with other key pieces while adding some nice to the mix as well. The Red Hawks play like an experienced machine with quick ball movement, hard cuts, lethal outside shooting and tough defense. Prior to last season, Hun hadn’t beaten Hun in at least 45 years. They made two second-half comebacks in two wins against the Raiders during that campaign. But this time the Red Hawks surged to an 11-point halftime lead and navigated a second-half surge from the visitors to win by the same margin. “We’re a tough team,” Napoleon said when describing the growth of the program. “We knew they were gonna come out and play hard because of last year. They were mad that we beat them twice — there and here. They were gonna play gritty and we knew that from the beginning, so we just had to play tough, play defense and hit shots.” Pennington achieved that goal by shooting about 49 percent from the field overall while limiting Hun to 39 percent shooting. Kae Kilic scored a team-high 24 points, including three straight 3-pointers that supplied Pennington with a 23-14 lead with 38 seconds left in the first quarter after the teams tied each other five times in the period. The senior guard also had three assists and three rebounds. Destine Evans added 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Noah Johnson nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine assists. And Napoleon and Jordon Owusu played physically in the paint by combining for five blocked shots. “The biggest thing is we have a lot of depth,” Fraser-Pauls said. “We have guys that can help us off the bench. We have guys that play starter minutes off the bench, so that’s hard. We have balance to us. There’s not one guy you can key on, and that’s a dangerous team when you’re balanced, guys believe in each other, they’re connected, and our program one through 16, we believe in them. It’s next man up when guys get injured or sick like it was today.” Napoleon set the tone in the first half with aggressive drives and jump-shooting as Pennington repeatedly attacked the middle of Hun’s defense and then swung the ball around. “Personally I think last game I didn’t play my best against them, so I just knew I had to get off to a hot start,” Napoleon said. “That’s just always how we play — drive and kick basketball, get paint touches and just get open shots, get to the rim.” It was Napoleon’s second-highest scoring output of the season after he dropped 22 points in a win over Middle Township on Dec. 28. “We tell all of our guys to play fast, physical and confident, and he’s getting that along with a lot of other guys,” Fraser-Pauls said. “We say if you can give us effort and toughness on the defensive end, you’ve got a lot of freedom on the offensive end, and our guys are doing that. Dylan is one of those guys and we want him playing confident, and he is. The belief shows and the work shows.” Pennington is also steadily reacclimating DJay Snead, who had his appendix removed during the first week of tryouts and wasn’t able to play in the early part of the season. The senior guard has been coming off the bench as he gets back into the flow of game action. “It was unfortunate for him, bad luck, but he’s really getting himself back,” Fraser-Pauls said. “You saw him tonight getting into more of a rhythm and he’s gonna continue to get more into a rhythm, and we believe in him more than he even knows.” Blake Hargroves was an unstoppable force attacking the rim for Hun with a game-high 30 points. Luke Wafle also scored double figures with 13 points. But Pennington mostly controlled the game against Hun aside from turning the ball over seven times in the third quarter, despite not having 6-foot-8 sophomore big man Joshua Benka-Coker because of an injury. Hun trimmed its deficit to five points with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, but Pennington finished it off with free throws. It all has Fraser-Pauls excited about the upside of his sixth Pennington team as it chases long-term goals in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League and Prep A state tournament. “I think this team on paper is as talented (as last year), but we gotta continue to work every day,” Fraser-Pauls said. “We gotta stay connected. We’re just getting started, and we’ve got a lot of basketball to play. We’re only gonna reach our full potential if we stay focused on tomorrow and then the next day.” HUN (73) Wafle 6-1-13, Hargrove 11-4-30, Kulkarni 2-3-7, Mateo 4-3-13, Brown 2-0-4, Mickens 0-1-1, Clarke 2-1-5. Totals — 27-13-73. PENNINGTON (84) Napoleon 6-6-18, Kilic 6-6-24, Evans 8-2-21, Johnson 4-0-9, Snead 1-2-4, Owusu 2-4-8. Totals — 27-20-84. Hun (4-10) 15 16 21 21 — 73 Pennington (8-3) 23 19 15 17 — 84 3-point goals: Hargrove 4, Mateo 2 (H), Kilic 6, Evans 3, Johnson (P).