After a successful first few games and winning the KIT championship, the KO boys varsity basketball team hopes to continue their success for the rest of the season.
Senior Co-captain point guard Chase Fountain thinks that the season has been alright so far. “I think I speak for all of us when I say we hold ourselves to a high standard, so we have more losses than we would like,” he said. Freshman guard DJ Biggins agreed with Fountain. “The season so far I think is going pretty well,” he said. “We should have less losses, but we live and we learn, but overall I think we are playing very well and getting better every day.”
Head coach Brad Seaman thinks that the season is off to a great start. “With the team, we have had some really great tough wins over class A teams such as Taft, Avon Old Farms, and Dexter Southfield,” he noted. Coach Seaman said he is proud of the team and impressed with all the hard work these boys put into improving.
Senior Co-captain guard Gavin Griffiths loves being part of a team that is so resilient and never lets a bad game affect their mindset. “Every time we lose, we bounce back with a really good game to follow it up, and we’ve been getting better as a team every day in practice,” he said. Personally, for Griffiths, he is shooting better this year than last year and is trying to learn and get better from the team’s losses.
On Jan. 7, the Wyverns traveled to Millbrook School and, despite their best efforts, lost with a score of 56-46. However, they turned this around on Jan. 9, in their game against Taft with a strong win of 66-55. On Jan. 14, the Wyverns earned the 89-79 win against Pomfret School, and followed that with their 73-53 win over Westminster School on Jan. 20.
On Saturday, Jan. 21, the Wyverns headed to TD Garden to play against Dexter Southfield in the annual Andrew James Lawson Foundation Invitational. The Wyverns defeated Dexter with a score of 76-60 and played a strong game on the court of the Boston Celtics.
Fountain’s favorite parts of the season have been the away game experiences: the long bus ride to the game, the warmups, the game, and then the ride home back with the guys. So far, Griffth’s favorite part of the season was beating Avon Old Farms as that has always been one of the games he looks forward to most. For Biggins, his favorite part of the season so far was the KIT’s as that was a great first experience for him as a freshman.
Coach Seaman thinks that the team needs to work on rebounding and transition defense. However, he’s confident in their play. “When we play fast, we can beat anybody,” he said.
With all the hard work and amazing accomplishments, as the season continues, there are definitely things that can be improved for both individual players and the team as a whole. Griffiths has high hopes for himself. “I am hoping I can cut down on my turnovers,” he said. “Use my athleticism more to impact the game especially by getting more offensive rebounds.”
As a team, Biggins hopes to improve on the team’s toughness and be more supportive and not so negative towards each other. “Individually, just perfecting my shot and truly finding myself and my personnel and what I can and can’t do is what I want to work on,” Biggins said. Fountain hopes to keep improving on being a leader and a great captain for the guys and continuing to provide high energy so people can feed off of him.
The team looks to complete their season with more wins, but most importantly, with strong performances. As the team moves through its season, they will continue to grow together to meet their individual and group goals. With future games against Marianapolis Preparatory School, Greenwich Country Day School, Loomis Chaffee School, and other schools, the team hopes to continue to compete and improve their skills.
