Basketball: Hall welcomes second generation of Red Devils

The Hall Red Devils finished as a top two Class A basketball team in 1996-97 and 1997-98, reaching the state championship both seasons.

The second generation of those Hustlin’ Hall Red Devils is on display this season.

There are four sons of members of Hall’s state runner-up teams from the mid-90s suiting up for the Red Devils this season.

Junior twins Braden and Jack Curran are the sons of 1998 Hall graduate Adam Curran.

Sophomore guard Luke Bryant is the son of Hall athletic director Eric Bryant, who was the senior point guard for his dad’s Hustlin' Hall Red Devils first state runner-up team in 1996-97. Luke’s brother, Max, played point guard last year.

Freshman Chace Sterling is the son of former Red Devils' big man Nick Sterling, who joined Adam Curran on both of Hall’s state runner-up teams in 1997 and 1998.

The mid-90s Red Devils bloodlines also flow with the Hall girls teams with senior center Ella Sterling and freshman Emersyn Anderes for the JV.

Each son has similar skills to their dads, with some twists.

Braden Curran is a high-energy player like his dad, who earned the nickname “Worm” during his playing days for his tenacity for rebounding and playing defense. Adam Curran averaged 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 points as a junior and 3.0 rebounds and 2.4 points his senior season for the Red Devils' undefeated state finalists.

The younger Curran brings more offense to the table. He scored 18 points against Princeton in the Colmone Classic and is averaging 13.1 points and 7.2 rebounds this season. His brother, Jack, has seen limited minutes.

“It’s very cool for Eric, Nick and myself to have our kids all playing together like we used to,” Adam Curran said. “You can see some similarities in their game play from how we were. Except Braden can shoot better than I can.”

Hall coach Mike Filippini joked that he doesn’t want to tease Adam Curran about his son being a better shooter than he was, because “he’s the Chief of Police.”

Nick Sterling said both Braden and his dad “play hard/good at rebounding and defense” while the Bryant father and son duo both “take good care of the ball and take good shots and play good defense.”

“Adam was a defensive stopper and a great rebounder for his size, but they both have that high intensity motor that doesn’t seem to run out,” Eric Bryant said.

Nick Sterling, who averaged 5.8 points and 3.5 rebounds his junior season and 6.1 points and 4.3 rebounds as a senior for the 1998 state runner-up Red Devils, said both his son and daughter understand and are well drilled on the little things that add up, especially playing good defense and boxing out.

Filippini said the younger Sterling is going to be quite the player.

“He’s a strong kid and a pretty smart guy. He’s basically our first post off the bench and he’s 14 years old,” he said. “So once he figures out the speed of varsity basketball next year, he’s going to be just like his dad.”

Eric Bryant averaged 11.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 8.9 assists as a senior, leading the Red Devils to the state finals for the first time in 1996-97. He really doesn’t see too many similarities between his game and his son’s other than his willingness to compete.

“He isn’t afraid to stick his nose into a tough situation,” Eric Bryant said of his son.

Bryant said the most similarities between the fathers and sons lie with the Sterlings, both defensively and offensively.

“Nick for being 6-7 wasn’t a big shot blocker, but I think opposing players thought he would be,” Bryant said. “So Nick probably had taken more charges than most teams in the state. I see that in Chace, too. He is very good at it at a young age. Offensively, I think the game has gone away from the big guy a little bit, so Chace handles the ball a little better, but is best when he is around the basket just like dad.

“Nick played well posting up and playing with his back to the basket where Chace seems to move well without the ball to find seams to get through to the basket to score. All in all definitely all team oriented players like their fathers and hopefully they can experience some success like we were lucky enough to experience.”

Braden Curran said he’s heard a lot of stories about his dad’s team playing under the disciplined culture of Eric Bryant Sr., “but one thing for sure is that all of the guys played for each other and cared about one another, they prayed before every game and they had a whole community behind them.”

The younger Curran said he’s friends with the Bryant brothers and has a chemistry with them just like their dads had.

“Just seeing how good of friends they are still and how they love and take care of each other is cool,” he said. “My class has a similar chemistry just because of our dads, but I think my dad’s class and group of friends is rare in high school. So it’s pretty cool that I get to be a part of it and see how close they are.”