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When Lewis Pantaleon walked into the Memorial High School gym during an open gymnastics practice in late August, head coach Steven Leon immediately scolded his players.
Leon had anticipated the arrival of a new player at the gym that day after speaking with his assistant coach Danny Marroquin, who had mentioned meeting a boy interested in joining the men’s basketball team a few days earlier. But what he didn’t expect to see was a player who looked more like a 21-year-old man than an average high school basketball player, like the ones he had seen at Memorial.
“You can’t just bring your older brothers and cousins to practice,” Leon recalled telling his players. “And my players were telling me, ‘Coach, this is a kid who’s transferring to Memorial. He is 18 years old. He’s going to be involved in school.’ I quickly went from almost kicking him out to welcoming him to practice with us. We don’t often see guys at Memorial who are 6 feet, 3 inches tall and look as strong as him.”
It only took one open gym session for Leon to realize Pantaleon’s immense potential.
“Later that day, when I saw him play, he was doing some amazing things on the court with his athleticism,” Leon said. “He jumped on a guy on a block attempt and I thought, ‘Wow, we’ve got something really special.’”
In the five months since then, Pantaleon has lived up to Leon’s expectations and then some. After emigrating from the Dominican Republic last summer, Pantaleon has been one of the best forwards in Hudson County this year, averaging 17.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game this winter.
Pantaleon’s play has helped Memorial to an 18-9 record so far, the most wins the program has had since 2010. Memorial, the No. 4 seed in North 1, Group 4, won its opening match in the state tournament, beating Bloomfield in the first round. Memorial will face No. 5 seed Paterson Kennedy in the quarterfinals on Monday.
“I’m thankful and proud to be in this position,” said Pantaleon, who had coach Leon and teammate Elliott Nager as translators during his interview with NJ Advance Media. “I never thought I would be here, especially not my freshman year.”
This winter marks the first time Pantaleon has played organized basketball on a regular basis, but he was familiar with the game long before he set foot on American soil.
Pickup basketball was popular among Pantaleon’s friends and family in the Dominican Republic. From the ages of five to ten, he regularly played pickup 5-on-5 games on local basketball courts.
“There we played more naively and aggressively, like in street basketball,” Pantaleon said. “It was a little different playing in the United States. Where I came from, we didn’t play with referees, so everyone just hit each other and gave each other very hard fouls. “It was like a fight out there.”
As he grew older, baseball became more prominent in his life, as both older brothers played recreationally in the Dominican Republic. Eventually, his love for baseball grew and, at age 11, Pantaleon stopped playing basketball regularly.
Until it arrived in the United States years later, in July 2023.
Pantaleon had several relatives in Florida and Pennsylvania before immigrating, but when his older brother came to New Jersey from the Dominican Republic four years ago, he wanted to be closer to him, along with his two cousins who were already in Hudson County. So in July 2023, he officially moved to West New York to stay with his older brother, and immediately enrolled at Memorial.
Despite having limited English proficiency, Panataleon enthusiastically immersed himself in high school sports to try to build friendships at his new school.
In August, Pantaleon approached a fellow student on campus who had a baseball bat in his hand, asking about joining the baseball team. It was directed toward Marroquin, who is the head baseball coach and assistant men’s basketball coach, who then spoke to Pantaleon about the basketball team after he showed interest in it.
Pantaleon secured his spot on the men’s team in the fall after impressive performances during open gymnastics sessions and tryouts. But he was very raw. The next challenge for Pantaleon’s coaches was to guide him toward understanding team-centered basketball, with plays and tactics that he needed to understand quickly.
Pantaleon acknowledged that the first few games of the season were difficult for him, even as Memorial began the season with a 6-1 record. His aggressive style of play, acquired playing pickup basketball in the Dominican Republic, did not translate smoothly to high school level play. He frequently got into foul trouble for aggressive rebound attempts, and when he had the ball, he often charged defenders and forced shots instead of playing within the system and looking for the pass.
But the most significant obstacle for Pantaleon was understanding the situational aspects of the game.
“We were playing Hoboken (on Jan. 12), and we basically had the game under control,” Leon said. “But (Pantaleon) received a pass at midcourt, and instead of holding the ball and waiting to be fouled, with 10 seconds left, he threw a pass that went out of bounds. Hoboken got the ball back and scored a game-winning 3-pointer. So from the beginning, we were trying to make him understand how to play high school basketball properly, because when you play pickup basketball, those types of situations during the game are difficult to understand.”
But one thing no one could fault Pantaleon for was his effort. Through seven games, Pantaleon was averaging 14.1 points and 11 rebounds per game. Although his game was still raw, he was doing everything he could to help his team: fighting on the glass, diving for loose balls and scoring off offensive rebounds.
As Pantaleon began to understand how to maximize his skills for Memorial, he has blossomed into Memorial’s best player. In his last 18 games, Pantaleon has averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds per game.
“I remember my first game (against St. Peter’s Prep) it was awkward for me because I would just get lost during the game,” Pantaleon recalled. “But I was able to start to understand things and by the seventh or eighth game, I started to get used to everything. I feel like my athleticism has helped the team a lot.”
Leon noted that the biggest growth he saw in Pantaleon was his understanding of defense.
“Obviously knowing the plays we run both offensively and defensively has helped his growth, but defensively, he’s made some huge leaps,” Leon said. “Now he understands help defense and rotations. You know, at the beginning of the season when I was telling our players that we were going to play man-to-man defense, he would stick to his man no matter where he was, basically marking him. He now understands where he should be when the ball is on the other side of the court.”
As Pantaleon became more accustomed to high school basketball, he put up some impressive performances not typically seen from a freshman. Throughout the season, he recorded six games with 20+ points and 10+ rebounds, with a standout 32-point, 10-rebound performance against Lyndhurst on January 20. Additionally, he recorded a career-high 33 points and 10 rebounds against North Bergen on February 1.
“What he does on the boards and his scoring production is just remarkable,” Leon said. “And what’s impressive is how efficient it is. A 30-point game for him will come with 12-of-13 shooting from the field. Sometimes, he will have matchups where the other player is not as big as him, and if you don’t have someone who is 6-foot-3 or taller, he will take advantage.”
And while the transition off the court hasn’t always been easy for Pantaleon, one major advantage he had coming to Memorial was going to a school that already had several Spanish-speaking students. Almost all of his teammates, as well as the coaches, are fluent in both English and Spanish.
“There are only two Spanish-speaking coaches in the entire HCIAL conference, myself and St. Peter’s basketball coach (Alex Mirabel),” Leon said. “I think coming here and entering a school where the coaches and players understand Spanish really helped him with the basketball learning curve. There are times during the game when I am calling plays in English or Spanish. I think being able to speak two languages has really helped him develop faster than he would if he had gone to another school.”
In Pantaleon’s opinion, Memorial was the ideal first school in the United States for him.
“I feel like Memorial was good for me overall,” Pantaleon said. “There are people here who make sure I’m on the right path and that I don’t get distracted, especially during basketball season. My teammates have helped me change as a person for the better. Being around them helps me stay happy and content with things here.”
And while Pantaleon is hungry to help Memorial achieve its goal of winning its first sectional title since 2001, he also hopes to make his family in the Dominican Republic proud, including his father, who recently passed away.
“I try to use my grief over my (father’s) death and go out and do better on the court than I normally would,” Pantaleon said. “It motivates me to go out, improve and play for him.”
Basketball has not only provided him with his first group of friends here in the United States, but also a way for Pantaleon to keep his spirits high amid many changing changes in his life.
“This sport has been like his escape from the difficulties of coming here and obviously the loss of his father,” Leon said. “It allows you to express yourself and get away from things. It has paid off for him.”
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This translation was provided by Latino Spirit Media, in partnership with the Montclair State University Cooperative Media Center, and is financially supported by the NJ Civic Information Consortium. The story was originally written in English by NJ.com and is republished under a special content sharing agreement through the NJ News Commons Spanish Translation News Service.
This translation was provided by Latino Spirit Media, in association with the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University and is financially supported by the NJ Civic Information Consortium. The story was originally written in English by NJ.com and is republished under a special content sharing agreement through the NJ News Commons Spanish Translation News Service.
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2024-02-27 16:07:08
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