Carl Gibson, old-school guard, shows way for Cherry Hill East basketball

The shot is old school.

So is the shooter.

Carl Gibson’s mid-range runner is a blast from the past. So is his blue-collar approach to the sport.

“Just work,” Gibson said of the secret of his success as an all-purpose standout for the Cherry Hill East basketball team. “Just go to the gym three times a day, trying to get better.”

There are plenty of modern aspects to Gibson’s game. He’s a top three-point shooter, leading the Cougars through Wednesday with 29 connections from beyond the arc. He can get to the rim. He handles, passes, plays defense.

“He does everything for them,” Washington Township coach Matt Kiser said of Gibson.

But there’s something unique about Gibson’s style of play. He’s one of the few players in South Jersey who shoots a floater from 10 or 12 feet with such consistency and with such accuracy, too.

“That’s always been his shot,” Cherry Hill East coach Dave Allen said. “Ever since I first met him when he came to camp in fifth grade, that’s been his shot.

“He does it very well. There are a lot of players who don’t do that. There’s a lot of three-point shooting or trying to get to the basket.”

Gibson has taken his game to another level as a senior. He’s averaging 20.6 points despite being the focus of every team’s defensive game plan.

“That shows how good of a player he is,” Allen said. “Every team is trying to stop him.”

Despite his individual excellence, it’s been a frustrating season for Gibson. Cherry Hill East has lost five of six -- all of which were competitive games -- to drop to 8-9 with about three weeks left in the regular season.

“I’m trying to be vocal leader to teammates,” Gibson said Saturday, after a 60-59 overtime loss to Ewing at the Jeff Coney Classic at Rancocas Valley. “We have games left. Trying to talk with my guys, ‘It’s still halfway through season, we can get it back, be confident in each other.’”

Gibson takes the losses to heart, both because he’s a senior closing in on the end of his career and because of his appreciation for the recent history of the program.

That’s another reason he’s old-school: He’s been following the Cougars for years and fondly recalls top former players such as Chris Santo as well as Jake Silpe and Tim Perry, who led the program to consecutive South Jersey Group 4 titles in 2014 and 2015.

“This is a program that is set on winning,” Gibson said. “I remember the teams that Silpe and Tim Perry had.

“I’ve been following this team since I was 7 or 8. I always loved the atmosphere, the Countrymen [student section], coach Dave Allen.”

The biggest throwback aspect to Gibson’s game is that runner -- which is sort of a mid-range layup -- that tends to float through the air and drop through the net.

He might be the only player in South Jersey who takes that shot on a regular basis.

And he’s definitely the only player who makes it on a regular basis, too.

“Watching the Chris Pauls and the Steve Nashes, those type of guys, they’re smaller,” Gibson said. “Growing up, I was always one of the smaller side; if I went to the basket I would get blocked by the taller players,

“I worked on it. I’m taller now [6 feet], but that shot has always been there for me, since I was younger.

“It’s always been my shot.”