HAMILTON — Repeat. It’s the operative word for the Thrive Charter boys basketball team this season. The players say it. Their coach says it. And the Titans played like it Monday night as they began the season by thrashing Burlington Township at home, 80-44, in their quest to win the Group I stat e title again. “That’s the main goal is to repeat,” said senior guard Teriyon Page, who had a team-high 13 points and was one of five Thrive Charter players to score double figures. The Titans continued the suffocating defense that they played last season, creating about 21 turnovers while holding the Falcons to 33 percent shooting from the field. The fundamentals of physical man defense, pressing and trapping became hallmarks of the program when head coach Khalid Lewis arrived last year. And with such seamless communication because Thrive Charter has 10 returning players, it should end up being one of the top defenses in New Jersey this winter. “Defense, always,” Lewis said. “We never want anybody to come here, especially in our gym, and be comfortable. We want to impose our will and make teams uncomfortable. We had the stands, we had the support today, got the energy from the crowd. So we just wanted to preach defense, preach defense. The offense is going to come. Sometimes we’re not in control of if the ball goes in and out of the basket. But we’re always in control of how hard we play.” Banners for Thrive Charter’s reigning Group I sectional and state championships hang in the school’s gym. (Greg Johnson/ Trentonian Photo) Thrive Charter’s Big Three — Javion Cesar-Jones, Tyler Hammond and Marjon Skillman, who all have a chance to reach 1,000 career points this season — combined for 34 points. Jamar Young, a junior, netted 12. Young and Page have both stepped into the starting lineup, at least for now. Lewis said the lineup will change based on the opponent and what happens in practice. “I’m always staying prepared mentally and physically, working with my teammates,” said Page, who caused havoc on the perimeter to help ignite the Titans’ numerous fast breaks. Lewis said senior Kim Ross came off the bench after being a starter last year because he’s nursing an injury. The same went for Cesar-Jones, although he started in the second half. Lewis, a former Trenton Catholic star player, certainly has plenty of options to choose from as nine different players had logged points by halftime on Monday night. “I’ve got probably nine or 10 players that I can swap out and it won’t be much of a drop-off, so we can keep that same energy, keep that same defensive intensity and pressure,” Lewis said. “The team never gets comfortable.” Lewis had to make his team a bit more uncomfortable during timeouts in the first quarter as the teams exchanged the lead eight times. Thrive Charter closed the final 3:22 of that period on a 10-2 run to seize control of the game. The Titans led 40-28 at halftime and then allowed only 16 points in the second half. “Defense, defense. We talk, hustle, all that stuff,” Page said. “Halftime our coach talked about it a lot. He said we had to bump it up, and that’s what we did.” The only major loss from last season’s team was Isaiah Gore, who led the Titans with 16.8 points per game and then transferred to Archbishop Ryan for his senior year. But right now it looks moot on a team with more depth than maybe anyone in the area. “It doesn’t matter,” Page said. “We’ve got a lot of people on the bench that will come in and help us a lot.” Lewis said the main difference without Gore is that players like Cesar-Jones, Young and Page will be doing more ball-handling. Thrive Charter also added Sean Turner, a junior transfer from Hamilton West. Turner (nine), Ross (three), Germain Bryson (five) and Ty Hobbs (four) all had points to round out the score sheet for the Titans. It was a redemption win for Thrive Charter against Burlington, which won the season opener between the teams last year in overtime, 55-52. That was one of just four losses all season for Thrive Charter. Burlington also finished 26-4 but fell in the Central Jersey Group III semifinals to Ewing and then lost three significant play-makers to graduation and transfer. Tougher tests are on the way for the Titans, who are currently ranked 20th in New Jersey. Lewis beefed up the schedule this season with road games against teams like Elizabeth (ranked 16th in the state) and Manasquan (ranked sixth in the state) in January. “It’s what I want to do moving forward,” said Lewis, who had no control over last season’s schedule, which was already set when he got the job as head coach. “To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.” BURLINGTON TWP. (44) George 1-2-4, Larbie 7-4-21, Richards 4-0-10, Ingram-Beachum 2-0-6, Johnson 0-1-1, Gadson 1-0-2. Totals — 15-7-44. THRIVE CHARTER (80) Young 6-0-12, Hammond 4-3-12, Page 5-1-13, Cesar-Jones 4-2-11, Bryson 2-0-5, Turner 3-3-9, Skillman 5-1-11, Hobbs 2-0-4, Ross 1-1-3. Totals — 32-11-80. Burlington Twp. (0-1) 11 17 9 7 — 44 Thrive Charter (1-0) 17 23 17 23 — 80 3-point goals: Larbie 3, Richards 2, Ingram-Beachum (B), Page 2, Hammond, Cesar-Jones, Bryson (TC). ...read more read less