JACKSON TWP — Cole Brooks believes he has made significant strides in his game since last season.

He now has an impressive statistic to back it up.

Seneca Valley's senior guard scored 37 points in Friday's 77-41 season-opening boys basketball victory over visiting Moon.

It is a career-high for Brooks, who turned in a solid junior campaign by averaging 13.8 points per contest and making 71 treys.

“I've developed more as a ball handler and I worked a lot on getting to the hoop,” said Brooks, who drained seven 3-pointers in the win.“Cole has grown a bit and has gotten stronger,” said Raiders' coach Kevin Trost. “He's always had a good shot, but can now put the ball on the floor and get to the rim.“He is also an 85 to 90 percent free throw shooter.”The effort was bittersweet because Brooks knew it would be over three weeks, at least, until he and his teammates can get back on the court.High school sports are scheduled to resume Jan. 4 following a suspension of play and practice due to COVID-19.“This team's chemistry is on another level,” said Brooks. “We'd been having a lot of fun in practice and to just pause everything after one game, it's very frustrating.”The Raiders turned in a very productive three weeks of preparation before meeting Moon.“Since we started on Nov. 20, we had no setbacks, unlike a lot of teams,” said Trost. “We got our scrimmages in and were in a pretty good place with conditioning.”During his sophomore season, Brooks saw limited action in a few games and wanted more responsibility.“I really set my mind to making the jump from just a young player to someone who could contribute to the varsity team,” he said of the months leading up to his junior season. “I worked with a shooting coach several times per week and ended up as a starter.”Brooks hopes to play in college, but his destination is uncertain — another thing affected by the coronavirus.His immediate focus is staying in shape for basketball's hopeful return in three weeks.The Raiders went 4-17 last season. Brooks and his teammates feel they have something to prove.Friday night was a good start.“Last year, we struggled with a lack of focus at times,” he said. “We've been so into practice and we believe we can turn things around.”

Brooks