by Sean James ’19
and Lian Wolman ’20
The varsity boys basketball team is 9-6 and is ready to make the final push for the playoffs.
The boys basketball team ended 2018 with a 5-1 record, taking a tough but hard fought loss in the championship game of the Kingswood Oxford Invitational Tournament. Head Coach Brad Seaman said the team was just gassed since it was their third game in three days.
The first four games of the new year were against The Millbrook School, The Taft school, The Hotchkiss school, and The Pomfret school. The team went 0-4 in those games, but fought hard. Coach Seaman said even though senior point guard Sean James went down, it meant guys had to step up which would be a good challenge for the team.
James had to sit out the first four games of the new year with tendinitis in his hips. “It was tough to sit out, and it was the last thing I wanted to do, but I knew I had to get healthy in order to get the most out of the season,” James said.
After those four games, the boys got back on track and back to their usual ways of winning. The team has learned how to use what other teams might view as a weakness to their strength. “The team is good at running the floor since; we are smaller than most teams, we have to be faster,” senior guard Kyren Petteway said.
Then the Wyverns traveled to The Gunnery school on Wednesday, Jan. 16, and got a big win on the road, 73-55. Senior guard Nick Bray unloaded 22 points in the first half, having one of the best first half performances the team has seen all season. He finished with 26 points.
Next they invited Westminster School to their home gym and also finished with a big win at home, 61-44. Bray and junior forward Jackson Wolff both made three three-pointers that day. Coach Seaman said it was a great atmosphere because it was one of the only Friday night games the team had.
This the team welcomed two new players, with a last name the Kingswood Oxford family is used to hearing. Sophomore forward Hunter Meshanic and sophomore forward Carter Meshanic transferred in from E.O Smith, and made an impact on the team immediately. In their first prep game against a challenging Westminster team, C. Meshanic grabbed 20 rebounds and H. Meshanic shut down their 6 foot 9 inches center to just 7 points.
After that game, everyone not only knew that the team was going to be promising, but the Meshanic twins were going to be a force to be reckoned with. After their game against Westminster, the boys invited the strong Berkshire School team to Hewett gym. It was a great game to watch because the starting five all finished with 10 plus points, making them virtually impossible to stop. They ended up rolling over Berkshire 79-50.
Wolff said this game was really great overall. “They were a pretty good team but we played really well together that day and everyone was involved in the win,” he said. “It was a real team effort.”
On Friday, Jan. 26, the boys traveled to Choate Rosemary Hall to play a Friday night lights game. Choate being 6-2 in Class A, thought they would roll over the Wyverns, however they wrong. The boys fought to the final buzzer, losing 57-55 to a very gritty and talented Choate team. “The team fought hard, and that was all he could ask for,” Coach Seaman said.
