Walpole’s win over Wellesley on Friday, Jan. 29, marked two huge milestones for the Rebels. First, the win was the team’s fifth in a row. Second, the win was Head Coach David St. Martin’s 100th win as the Walpole Boys Basketball head coach.
“It was a good win against a good Wellesley team,” said Coach St. Martin. With the win, St. Martin made school history. “I was very excited to get my 100th win. I have coached great kids, have had awesome assistant coaches and the families have been very supportive.”
Breaking this type of record is something very few coaches have done at Walpole High School, and so not everyone gets to witness this type of school history. Coach Bill Tompkins, Coach Marianne Murphy, Coach John Lee, Coach Lee Delaney – all are some other coaches that have broken the 100 wins record.
Junior Jordan Washburn said, “It was amazing to be a part of [St. Martin’s 100 win]. He makes us work hard and get better everyday. He deserves to win many more [games], and he is for sure one of the best coaches around.”
“Being a part of Coach’s 100 was great, but like he said, 102 will be so much better because that means we are in the [tournament]” said junior forward Brett Von Klock.
Sophomore guard Aidan Chariton added, “Coach could have easily went out and made the game about him, but instead he kept the focus on us and treated the game like any other. I think his selflessness really reflects on our unselfish team play.”
For Walpole, the second half of the season is going much better than the first. The team went 4-6 in their first ten games, and they could barely surpass the 50 point mark each game on a consistent basis.
“[The] first game of our new season,” said junior forward James Randall, “was against Norwood. We knew that if we beat them, then we would set ourselves on the right path going forward.”
Randall was right, for the team defeated Norwood (60-49), and then continued on winning. They went on to beat Natick (67-58), Weymouth (77-48) and then Framingham (68-55). The Norwood Mustangs are currently the top team in the Herget Division with a record of 8-4.
St. Martin attributes the team’s recent success to three key concepts: “Play hard, play smart, and play together. If [we] have those three things we can be successful. Each year we [do not] focus on the wins or losses but rather the process of trying to outwork our opponent every game.”
The Rebels’ most recent loss came after a disappointing game against the Needham Rockets. Walpole was defeated 55-44 in an offense-lacking game.
Von Klock said, “We all had a talk after the Needham game. We knew we were at the crossroads of the season, and that we had to figure it out then if we wanted to reach our goals of making the postseason and winning the Herget [Division title]. Since then, we have been bringing more energy to not only games, but also practices. The motivation really stems from Coach.”
The Rebel’s new system of doing things and preparing for games is working as the five wins in a row speak for themselves.
St. Martin said, “We are just going to focus on one game at a time and focus on doing four things: playing defense, rebounding, running and executing.”
With a score of 58-54, the team added a sixth tally to their win streak on Tuesday, Feb. 2, against Milton. Currently, the 10-6 team is one game away from qualifying for the postseason tournament.
