Griffith junior Antonio Hatch has been making up for lost time.
The 5-foot-9 point guard missed last season due to academic issues but has shined in his varsity debut for the Panthers.
“Not playing last year, it was really hard,” Hatch said. “But I just got in the gym to get better. I never want to end up in that situation again.
“I wasn’t focused last year. This year, I’m more focused, doing good in school. I matured.”
Last season, Hatch missed his chance to play with his older brother Antoine, who was a senior guard. But Hatch and his younger brother Amarion, a sophomore guard, are teammates this season.
“I got to play with my older brother last year, but not him, so it means a lot to play with him this year,” Amarion Hatch said. “It’s great. I love it. He definitely makes us better. We’re winning with him.”
Indeed, Antonio Hatch is averaging 16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.8 steals, all team highs for the Panthers (7-5, 4-1), whose only Greater South Shore Conference loss is a one-point defeat against Bishop Noll on Dec. 10.
Hatch played on the junior varsity team as a freshman.
“I gained a lot,” he said. “I focused on getting a better left hand and shooting and finishing through contact and defense.”
Hatch’s skills have impressed first-year Griffith coach Cameron Ashley.
“He has a high motor,” Ashley said. “He can get to the basket any time he wants at will. Even though he can get to the basket at will, he’s always looking to get his teammates involved. Every coach in America wants that in a point guard, absolutely.”
Griffith senior forward Kingston Gant also praised Hatch’s game.
“I have to guard him every day, so I’d have to say he’s the hardest player I’ve ever had to guard,” Gant said. “He’s unpredictable. He can go left, he can go right, he can finish middle. He really does whatever he wants on the court. He’s a great passer as well.
“He’s a great defender too. If he wants the ball from you, he’s probably going to take it.”
Hatch has taken on a position of prominence for the Panthers as a leader too.
“Antonio’s a great kid,” Ashley said. “He’s an evolving, emerging leader. He’s a leader that’s really been showing up for us for the last four or five months in practice and in the games as well.
“I always tell him, ‘When you’re up, the team’s up; when you’re down, you can bring the team down. So your leadership ability tends to affect the entire team. Your leadership role is very important. Whether we’re up 20 or down 10, you have to stay up.’”
Hatch has taken such words to heart.
“A quiet gym is a losing gym, so I try to keep the gym loud, just clapping and yelling and bringing the energy,” he said.
Hatch’s voice was absent last season. It didn’t take long for him to demonstrate to Ashley just how much of a difference he could make.
“I heard quite a bit about him coming in,” Ashley said. “A lot of the kids were telling me about him, about his skill set, ability, what he can do. When I was able to see him in open gym, I was like, ‘Wow, OK, this kid can definitely be our starting point guard.’
“The fact that he didn’t play last year, I was kind of skeptical, like, how’s he going to be? But seeing him in open gym, I was like, ‘Oh, he hasn’t lost the touch.’ A lot of times, when kids don’t play, they also stay out of the gym. But with him, whatever he did, he either didn’t lose anything or he enhanced everything that he had.”
Hatch has delivered on that potential, overcoming self-doubt earlier in his career.
“I really pride myself on how far I’ve come,” he said. “At first, I didn’t think I was good at basketball. But I took the time to practice, stayed focused and got better.
“My brothers and my coaches really helped me. My older brother really got me better. They all believed in me, and I started believing in myself.”