Rembert's confidence gets rewarded

Nothing from his freshman season suggested that Brandon Rembert would have a chance at becoming the all-time leading basketball scorer at Pennsauken Tech.

As a freshman point guard, he averaged 5.4 points.

But Rembert, now a 5-foot-10 senior, had a quiet confidence that the bigger scoring days would come.

"I was a passer, getting the older players involved," he said. "I felt if I could keep working that I would be a scorer."

Since then, he has surely worked - and scored points.

Rembert opened the season by scoring 22 in a win over Camden Academy Charter. He has 45 points in two games, and 1,029 for his career.

Rembert is the fifth Pennsauken Tech boys' basketball player to hit the 1,000-point level, and now the all-time mark of 1,357 - by Reggie Riggs, a 1988 graduate - is within reach.

"It would be a great honor, but the main thing is helping my team win games," Rembert said.

Each season, his scoring has improved. As a sophomore, Rembert averaged 15.6 points. Last season, he averaged 21.3. This season, after two games, he's at 22.5.

"He really worked on his jump shot," Pennsauken Tech coach Jim Morton said. "When he was a freshman, he was always able to handle and get to the basket, but he knew he had to develop a jump shot."

So he worked and worked. Now, he is a threat from the perimeter and he can take it to the basket.

This already has been an interesting senior year for Rembert, who was a starting wide receiver and defensive back for Woodrow Wilson's football team. Because Pennsauken Tech doesn't offer football, he was able to play for his sending district's high school.

This season, Wilson went 0-10 under first-year coach Thomas Tapeh, the former Eagles fullback.

Through a difficult season, Rembert was among the bright spots.

"He was one of my best players, a hard worker who showed up every day on time and gave everything he had," Tapeh said. "I really appreciate the young man for all he did."

This was the first season that Rembert started in football. He was a varsity reserve as a junior.

Rembert said he would be open to playing either sport on the next level, although he has not come close to making a decision.

"He is an amazing athlete," Tapeh said. "They say he is a better basketball player, but what I have seen of him football-wise, I really like him as a receiver."

Tapeh was most impressed with how Rembert handled the team's winless season.

"You would get frustrated, and he would say, 'Coach, I am right with you,' and I appreciate that," Tapeh said. "He is a good young man with a bright future ahead."

Rembert is an example of an athlete who didn't enjoy immediate dominance in two sports, but kept working toward his goal.

Now, he has a chance to separate himself from all other scorers at Pennsauken Tech, a testament to his dedication, talent and, most of all, patience.