The Conant boys’ basketball team is in the midst of rebuilding and taking their lumps as the rest of Division III exacts their revenge for the Orioles’ decades of dominance.
Monday’s game against Stevens was much like any other January game at the Pratt — full-court press, lockdown defense trapping the ballhandlers at mid-court, turnovers, and one team running away with a victory. This time, however, it was Stevens putting on all the pressure and Conant getting swarmed. Coach Matt Dancosse and the Cardinals had been on the other side of it many times in the past, so Monday’s 61-23 Stevens win was a welcome reversal.
For Conant, head coach Jimmy Peard is still getting used to playing the underdog, but regardless of their 2-6 record, he said his team is working hard every day and focused on making the postseason.
“It’s definitely new,” Peard said. “I knew coming in it was going to be a tough season. We have to play absolutely perfect to compete in some of these games against these top teams. And you lay an egg in one quarter, all of a sudden it’s 45 points.”
The Orioles finished Monday’s game with more turnovers than points, as their youth and lack of height were evident against the fierce Stevens press.
“It’s stuff that we work on in practice and we just don’t [execute in game],” Peard said. “Some of that’s with the youth that we play, and it’s also that we’re undersized. We’re getting better, and now we’re playing the good teams and it’s showing that we still have a long way to go.”
Senior captains Drey Seppala (7.9 ppg), Braeden Dion and Kaiden Charron bring mature leadership and fiery energy to the Orioles; sophomore Jaiden Nagle (team-high 9 ppg) is probably their best shot creator, and freshman center Carter Letourneau (8.4 ppg) looks like a future star in the making, especially given his coach’s big man resume.
The Orioles are in the midst of a tough stretch of schedule, having played four of the top six teams already. The Orioles were set to host a tough Kearsarge team Wednesday night and then Hillsboro-Deering – in previous years a nearly guaranteed W – on Tuesday. If the Orioles keep working hard, the playoffs are still attainable, but it will take full 32-minute efforts to get it done.
“We just go to practice every day and hope to get better,” Peard said, “and just work on things that we didn’t do well the game before. That’s kind of all we can do right now. Our division’s really like the top six and then anybody can beat anybody. But it’s hard being on the other side of that.”
