All Daily Record: Kenez overcame injuries to lead Mendham

Mendham's Brian Kenez was originally a soccer player who picked up basketball in the fourth grade as something to do during the winter months. But then a hip injury forced him to retire from soccer and he turned his focus to basketball.

In high school Kenez turned all his attention to the sport, but his career was a bumpy one as he broke his wrist his freshman year then missed his entire sophomore season because of his hip. He started his junior year but then broke his foot and he missed the last two weeks of the season. Coming into his senior year, Kenez just wanted to stay healthy, play and help his team the best he could.

"It seemed like I was always trying to come back, and all these other kids were always just playing and I kept saying I hope I can get back and then after the broken foot I really had no problems," Kenez said. "It was just nice. I wasn't always playing games so I wasn't getting the wear and tear that all the other kids were and I had a lot of time to watch and really see what it took and understand everything and see it from coach's view, and I think sitting next to him for three years basically really helped me know what he wanted this year and I could do that well."

Kenez returned to the court this season and finished with 335 points and 131 rebounds, averaging 12.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He also went 121-for-145 from the free throw line. The guard helped lead Mendham to the best record in Morris County at 21-6 and to its first Morris County Tournament title since 2011, scoring 18 of his team's 34 points in the final against Chatham. He was named MVP of both the county tournament and the JP Flynn Memorial Holiday Tournament.

Which is why Kenez is the 2014-15 All Daily Record Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

"He's like a throwback player, he's not flashy, he doesn't have great moves, but he gets to the basket," Mendham coach Kevin Schmid said. "He's a strong kid who gets to the basket and makes foul shots. He just does so much for us, whatever we needed him to do he did. It was a tough career for him, and for him to be able to culminate having a MCT championship, he's just been such a positive influence on our program."

Kenez, who was the only player with varsity experience this year, stepped up and helped lead a team that had only four seniors. He was responsible for helping get the team together over the summer to train and practice and the hard work paid off. He was a leader on and off the court and his ability to get his fellow players to follow his example is one of the main reasons Mendham was able to accomplish so much this season.

"At the end of last season coach Schmid had a meeting with all of us and he said you need to be a leader next year, just get these kids in the gym, get them working," Kenez said. "We played at the park a lot, none of us played AAU, we just played in the park, played in the gym over the summer. We just played with each other, hung out with each other, got each other in the gym and that's what made us what we were."

After the county championship Mendham started in the North 2 Group III Tournament as the No. 3 seed and won its first game against Summit, in which Kenez scored 22 points, to advance to the sectional quarterfinals. The Minutemen fell to Orange in the next round to end the season but the effect that the team and Kenez had had on the community was evident.

"The day after the Orange game when we lost that Saturday I was refereeing the intramural playoffs for the younger kids in town and I had coaches, dads come up to me saying what a great season, my kids loved watching you this year," Kenez said. "I had kids come up to me like, are you Brian Kenez, and I was like yeah that's me and they're like you're my favorite and it was awesome. Just the effect on the community, the kids in school high-fiving us, congratulating us, saying what a great job we did and how hard we played, stuff like that it was awesome."

Kenez hasn't decided yet where he's going to college, but he knows he won't play basketball when he gets there, a result of too many injuries over the years. Even though Kenez has played his last game in a Mendham uniform, he can be proud that the accomplishments this season will have a lasting effect on the program and the community for years to come.

"We said that hard work breeds success and I think that's going to be his legacy for the younger kids," Schmid said. "Look what Brian did and the seniors did and it turned out to be a really successful season. In life in general if you put in the time and hard work, good things happen and I think that will be the legacy."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: 973-428-6674; lknego@gannett.com