BHS Freshmen Basketball Completes Perfect Season

By: Dan Crowley
Published: 03/05/10

The season began with a new coach and a group of freshmen new to Bourne High School. The season ended nine weeks later, with a 16-0 record.

 

The freshmen opened the season December 14 with a 52-50 victory over Fairhaven.

“We were down by seven going into the fourth quarter,” Coach Craig Davidson explained. “Jack Canterbury and Blade Leavenworth came up big.”

Leavenworth scored 24 points in the opener for the Canalmen, with Canterbury right behind with 18.

Two days later the Canalmen took their first road trip traveling to Swansea where they pounded Case 63-21.

“We got off to a 20-2 start,” Davidson pointed out. “Chris Phillips played a great game with six points.”

Two days before Christmas Bourne headed for Old Rochester. Coming off back-to-back victories, Bourne tore into the Bulldogs, holding them to just six points in the first half as they jumped out to a 32-6 lead by the break. Leavenworth and Canterbury were in double figures again with 22 and 17 points respectively.

On Wednesday, the 30th of December, the Canalmen ended the year with a huge fourth quarter run to the finish line as they outscored Greater New Bedford Voke Tech down the stretch 22-12 to claim a 58-44 victory.

“They turned a close game into a big victory,” Coach Davidson said of his team. “Lucas Cabral finished the game with 10 points, five of which were in the fourth quarter.”

The freshmen opened the New Year on January 5 with a 61-45 victory over Apponequet.

Bourne got off to a fast start, building a 28-14 lead by the end of the first quarter. Canterbury and Leavenworth combined for 42 points in leading the Canalmen to their fifth straight victory.

A close battle against Seekonk followed with Bourne edging the Warriors 43-41.

“We were down by nine entering the fourth quarter,” the coach said. “We outscored them 19-8 in the final quarter.”

E.J. Baracchini finished the game with four points.

On January 12, riding a six-game winning streak, the freshman squad traveled to Dighton-Rehoboth and de-feathered the Falcons by a score of 41-29.

“We got some really good defense from Matt Moriarty at that game,” Coach Davidson pointed out. “Blade Leavenworth scored 17 points and Jack Canterbury added 11 points.”

Another close battle followed with Fairhaven on the opponent’s floor with the Canalmen fighting their way to a 44-38 win.

“Canterbury hit a three-pointer with two minutes to go to put us up by five points that led to our eventual win in this game,” the coach explained.

By now the team knew they had something special going, and they turned it up another notch in front of their home crowd on January 19th with a 62-31 thrashing of Case.

“The kids were doing great,” Davidson said. “We had three players finish in double figures and Val Cleary, James Bergeron and Aaron Sylvia came off the bench and all played quality minutes.”

Their biggest test of the season came on the 22nd of the month as Bourne hosted Wareham. Both teams entered the game undefeated at 9-0.

“They hadn’t lost in three years at the freshman level,” Davidson said of the Vikings. “It was a battle through the first half as we ended tied 19-19 at halftime. Leavenworth had a big second half scoring 20 of his game high 33 points, including six three-pointers taking us to a 51-43 win. That was the turning point. We started to play better in the second half of the season.”

Old Rochester came to town on January 26th. Canterbury led the way with 16 points in a 45-36 victory. February opened with a trip to GNBVT where the Canalmen faced their greatest challenge of the season.

“It turned out to be our most difficult game,” Davidson said. “We were coming off a six-day layoff and came out flat. We managed to pull ahead in the fourth quarter and then blew the lead.”

Bourne and GNBVT ended regulation tied at 43-43.

“We did a nice job in the overtime,” the coach added. “We won 50-45.”

The Canalmen returned home to face Apponequet next, and led by Leavenworth with 33 points, dealt the Lakers a 70-63 defeat.

“Colin Lanoie and Matt Moriarty played their best offensive games of the season against Apponequet,” Davidson noted. “Colin had 11 points and Matt had 10.”

Lanoie received the Coaches Award this season.

“He did whatever we asked him to do,” Davidson explained. “Colin improved considerably over the season going from the bench to the starting line-up.”

The long ride to Seekonk resulted in a 59-49 BHS victory on February 9th. Brendan Cudhea-Andrade finished the day with 16 points and Cabral added another 11. Nine Bourne players finished in the scoring.

In their final home game of the season, the freshmen pounded D-R 57-42. Cudhea-Andrade and Canterbury led the scoring with 19 and 18 points respectively.

A huge test awaited the Canalmen as they traveled to Wareham on the 16th for their final game of the season. Bourne walked onto the court with a record of 15-0. The Vikings, still smarting from their earlier defeat by the Canalmen, boasted a record of 14-1.

“We struggled in the first half,” Davidson admitted. “At one point in the second quarter, we fell behind by a score of 21-10.”

Bourne fought back going into the break trailing the Vikings 24-19.

Cudhea-Andrade finished the game with 24 points, 16 of which came in the second half in Bourne’s 58-47 victory. Leavenworth had a dozen, Cabral tossed in eight and Canterbury finished with seven points, 13 assists and five steals. Lanoie and Moriarty had seven points between them, but more importantly in Coach Davidson’s opinion, they shutdown Wareham’s two best players.

With the win over Wareham, the freshmen returned over the bridge with a perfect record.

“For a first year coach it was a very enjoyable season,” Davidson said. “To have this group of kids was great. The other coaches, Scott Ashworth, Scott Goulding and Jim Halliday helped out with practices and with the team, and I think that helped the kids to improve. This team created a lot of excitement in the program. Over the next few years it will be a pleasure to watch them. With their work ethic and the experience and knowledge of the varsity coaching staff, this group will do good things. I’m very proud of them all.”

Leave a Reply

In order to comment you need to be logged in.