You can go home, James Parker learned, if only for a night.
A junior guard, Parker came off the bench Tuesday night for his new team at Metea Valley, which didn’t have to travel far to face his old team at neighboring East Aurora.
Parker had mixed emotions for the game following a family decision to have him transfer and move from the home he lived in with his mother and two sisters to live with his dad.
“It’s a better environment to help me focus more,” said Parker, who started last season for the Tomcats. “At first, I didn’t really like it, but I took the risk. I just had to go with it.”
East Aurora coach Rick Robinson, who reached out and pulled his former player in for a bear hug in the postgame handshake line, said he understood the family’s decision.
He still misses Parker’s presence on the team.
“James Parker is a helluva player,” Robinson said.
Parker scored four points as Metea rolled 71-52. They were paced by 18 points from senior guard Jahki Gray, 17 from junior forward Will Ashford and 11 from senior guard Quentin Schaffer.
The 6-foot-1 Gray and the 6-2 Schaffer were joined by 6-4 junior Nick Schroeder in a three-guard lineup for the Mustangs (4-1).
Metea coach Isaiah Davis said the transition for the 5-10 Parker, who averaged 9.1 points last season, is going well and that Parker and Gray are beginning to jell together.
“It’s going to take a little bit,” Davis said. “I think we’ll definitely be better in January than we are now.
“It helps that they’re quick and really good defenders. We can do a lot of different things with them out there.”
Parker illustrated that point early in the fourth quarter when he was called for a charge on a drive to the basket. He promptly stole the inbounds pass and scored on a layup with 5:05 left.
“Those are still my bros at the end of the day,” Parker said of his former teammates. “I knew they were gonna come for me. They didn’t want me scoring as much. They didn’t want me to do nothing, really.
“My main focus wasn’t even to score — just come in, play my game and get the win.”
Consider it done, despite East Aurora (0-5) getting a game-high 19 points from junior guard Kenneth Cooley and 10 from senior forward Jabian Acosta.
“We have guys feeling it out,” Robinson said. “Our scouting report told them what (Metea) was going to do and how it was going to happen. We have to do a better job of hearing the instructions and following them.
“There’s no need for me to rant and rave. Until we buy in and trust the system, the results are going to be the same.”
Gray, who had a team-high six rebounds, impressed Robinson.
“Outstanding player who we knew was gonna come to the basket,” Robinson said. “Three or four times, we had opportunities to take charges and we want to turn sideways and let him go.”
With more scorers on the team this season, the Mustangs have more options.
Parker said his new teammates are helping him every day in practice, in sessions before school and even after practice.
“They’re pushing me to keep my head on straight,” Parker said. “My main focus is not really about starting. It’s about getting comfortable with the group because I’m still new.
“I’m just getting in my groove. As you could see, I didn’t really put on a performance like I know I could. I just tried to get comfortable.”
