As this year’s basketball season nears, Walpole Boys Basketball prepares for the upcoming games. With early pick-up games, conditioning, and crossfit training before tryouts even begin, the team hopes to have a strong approach to this year’s season and to improve from last year, which was not a very successful year for the boys. The team struggled last year with a record of 2-17 and unfortunately was not able to make tournament. Head coach Dave St. Martin, along with assistant coaches Mike Harris, Craig Wright, and Keith Wick, now have four spots to fill on the varsity team. The empty spots will not be hard to fill with all of the talented, returning basketball players from the junior varsity team and newcomers.
Even though they are losing some key players this year, including Tim Conley, Tom Donnellan, Brian Lotsbom, and Tim Merrigan, their spots will be easy to fill with the young talent moving up from the junior varsity team in addition to newcomers. Out of the usual starting five from last year’s season, two are now graduated. With Tom Donnellan and Tim Conley missing from the starting lineup, St. Martin has two spots to fill. Along with bringing up players from the junior varsity team, there are a few very skilled newcomers who would help the team.
Even though last year’s record was not their best, most of the games that the team lost were very close games. The boys lost to Norwood by three points with a final score of 49 to 46, and they also lost to Dedham by just five points with a final score of 55 to 50. Hopefully they will be able to pull through this season and put more points on the scoreboard to improve their record. Senior Captain Johnny Adams, a returning varsity player, has been contributing and playing on the varsity team since his freshman year at Walpole High School. He was apart of the starting lineup last year, along with Mike Cabral and Ronnie Shephard, and is one of this year’s captains.
When asked about his senior year as captain, Johnny Adams said, “We are coming off of a rebuilding year and have a lot of depth and young talent.” The team has many strengths for the upcoming season. They are attending crossfit training sessions at the high school, as well as pick-up games and conditioning in order to prepare themselves. They have the speed, height, and strength to make this season more successful. Johnny is and has been a strong asset to the team and will help lead the team to improve their record. “This year we have the ability to get back to our winning ways, to be a tournament team and a contender in the bay state,” said Johnny.
The team’s height, skill, and speed will help boost their record this upcoming season and change their standings. The Walpole High School boys’ basketball team will rise above the difficulties of last year.
