Basketball Sets School Record in Historic Run

Record: 25-1 For most students, school is the last place theywould want to be during summer vacation. Nevertheless,the Big Red boys’ basketball team sat on the stepsin front of the old Thompson Gym in the summer heatof June 2012 as coach Jay Tilton looked his playersin the eye. This is the start, he told the squad. You arenow the masters of your own destiny. This season canbe special, or it can be mediocre. It will take work, butwe could be sitting here next year as NEPSAC ClassA champions.The speech may not have made its full impact thatday. The boys went white-water rafting and partook inteam building activities. Forget the special season; theyneeded to learn each other’s names first. But Tilton’swords were surely on their minds as they rushed thecourt at Endicott College over a six motnhs later andhoisted the Class A championship trophy. Big Red triumphedin a traditionally very difficult matchup againstChoate (Exeter lost 42-60 to them last year) to win theschool’s first championship by a score of 58-47, endinga historic season in historic fashion.The team started the season strong, going homeover Christmas with an impressive 7-0 record. The teamrefused to get carried away, though, as their predecessorsof the year before had gone into the break with anidentical record but had not been able to put the piecestogether to win a championship. Sure enough, KimballUnion beat the squad by double digits in the boys’ firstgame of the 2013 calendar year. For the 2011-12 squad,their loss immediately after Christmas was the start ofa four-game skid and a stretch of games in which theteam went 1-5. For this year’s team, however, it provedto be the turning point in their season in a positivesense. From that moment forth, they resolved to neverlose again.“We all made a pact in the locker room after our lossagainst KUA,” senior co-captain Harry Rafferty said.“We decided then and there that we were going to buyin defensively, and once we did that, we weren’t goingto lose another game. I truly believe that, from that pointforward, we could have played the number one teamin the country, and we would have come out on top.”The defensively reborn team then took the courtagainst archrivals Andover and came away with anemphatic 27-point victory on the road. Although winningagainst Andover was nothing new, their 21-pointbashing of Choate three days later was. This surrealstring of games (including a 64-33 romp of BB&N)was supposed to draw to a close as Exeter hosted NewHampton on January 18th. The New Hampton squad participatedin the top Class AAA division and was a top-25team in the nation that featured Indiana-bound Noah Vonleh(ranked #13 on the ESPN 100 for the class of 2013).Exeter was not expected to pose much of a challenge to thejuggernaut of New Hampton, which was due to competein a nationally televised tilt on ESPN a few days aftervisiting the Love Gym. The boys, however, were unfazed.At this point in the season, everyone knew that Exeter’sdefense was good, but who would have expectedthe team to hold the potent New Hampton offense to apaltry nine points in the second half of their game? BigRed made up for a below-par shooting performance with atenacious defensive effort to sti e New Hampton and ekeout a narrow 37-33 win. After the New Hampton victory,a new era of Exeter basketball began. “The win [againstNew Hampton] was a big deal, because it con rmed to usand the rest of the league that we were the real deal,” upperTony Karalekas said. “After that game, we went into everymatchup believing that we could and that we would win.”The boys’ self-con dence shone in their followinggames as the team just refused to lose. Four days after theupset against New Hampton, Big Red triumphed over anotherhigher-division opponent, Proctor Academy, (ClassAA) in a lopsided 67-51 decision. Exeter then charged intothe softest part of their schedule as they faced three ClassA opponents and Class B Brooks School in consecutivegames. Exeter romped to four easy wins, outscoring theiropponents by a whopping 100 points over that span.Next up, Big Red faced Class AA Worcester Academywith a shot at history on the line. Senior co-captains Raffertyand Chris Braley and seniors Duncan Robinson andJordan Hill all recorded double-digit points en route to adominant 74-45 win against a team that had beaten Exeterby 11 points just one year ago. With that, the boys set anew program record with 18 wins on the season.“We looked at ourselves and thought, ‘Hey, we justmade history,’” Karalekas said. “The great thing was thatthere were at least ve more games left on our schedule,and we saw that we could do even better and win out therest of the season.”Immediately following the Worcester tilt, Exeter wastasked with two more tough, higher-division opponents inTilton and Cushing. The boys found themselves down athalftime against Tilton. Perhaps this was to be expected;after all, this was the program that produced the likes oflikely #1 overall NBA draft pick Nerlens Noel and Kansasbound,ESPN 5-star small forward Wayne Selden. In therst half, Selden could not be contained, racking up northof 20 points. Exeter’s 11-game win streak looked to becoming to an end. Cue Coach Tilton. His words settledhis bickering players down and reminded them of whythey were in the midst of a historic season in the rstplace: defense.“Coach told us that we have to stick to what we dobest, which is staying tough and communicating well—ifwe wore them down we could eventually get them,” Raffertysaid. Sure enough, the boys sti ed Selden and Co. inthe second half, limiting the superstar forward to just twopoints, and Big Red mounted a heroic comeback, roaringpast the national powerhouse program by a score of 64-47.The de ning “heroic comeback” of the season camethree days later against Cushing, however. A neck-andneckencounter came down to a buzzer beater effort, asRafferty hit a three pointer as time expired to seal the winfor Exeter. With three consecutive wins against top- ightprograms, Big Red had arrived on the nationwide highschool basketball scene. “To beat Tilton, Worcester andCushing—all top 25 teams in the nation—in the way thatwe did, at their place, was amazing,” Rafferty said.“The most important stretch of our season was whenwe recorded consecutive road wins against three top teamsin the country,” Tilton agreed. “The wins gave us personalrecognition on what we were doing, they showed our potentialas a team and we received some outside recognitionas well. The stretch of games marked a turning point forour program. It helped to create a legacy.”For the boys, beating schools that annually sendmultiple players to Division I programs was a new andincredible experience. “If you look at us, we were all just abunch of average kids walking into the gym against thesesuperstars getting interviewed by ESPN,” Rafferty said.“These kids just have an aura that says that they’re betterthan you, and we left with them asking themselves, ‘Damn,did those guys just beat us?’ There’s no better feeling.”After an easy victory over Class B Thayer Academy,the boys hosted Andover over E/a weekend, hoping to endtheir regular season on a 15-game winning streak to takeinto the NEPSAC Class A playoffs. Exeter pounded theirarchrivals for the second time that season by a score of65-43. The team was ying high going into the rst roundof the playoffs.Big Red traveled to St. Mark’s School to play Hotchkissin the quarter nal round. A 69-54 win clinched asemi nal berth at home. The boys hosted Milton in theLove Gym in one of the most anticipated basketballgames in Exeter history. The crowd’s energy was notlost on the team. “We enjoyed some terri c communitysupport,” Tilton said. “The crowd at the semi nal was areally special moment. It was the rst time we’d had thatkind of turnout, outside of E/a.” Exeter responded with a60-35 romp, sealing their rst ever championship gameberth in school history.The Class A nal took place at Endicott College,and Big Red was matched up with Choate, whom theyhad crushed earlier in the season. The boys displayedtheir defensive prowess once again, holding Choate to47 points. Exeter’s 58 points were enough to lift the rstClass A Championship in school history.The key behind Exeter’s historic season lay not onlyin the team’s immense talent, but also in its incredibledetermination and respect for its rivals. Whether they wereplaying a Class AAA or Class B team, the squad would prepareequally meticulously for game day. “The boys treatedevery opponent with the same level of respect and workedhard for every game,” Tilton said. “We’ve never had amore consistent mental approach as a team, on campusor in practice. Their attitude carried over from one gameto another, and we took the same approach each week.”Next year, the boys’ basketball team will welcomeback just three returning members: rising senior captainelectsTony Karalekas and Kendrick Morris and risinglower Max Kirsch. Although it is impossible to overlookhow much the 2013 class will be missed, both the graduatesand the coach seemed optimistic about the future ofExeter basketball. “The caliber of this program is justgoing to keep going up,” Rafferty said. “Even though theschool is losing a great class, the team has solid returners.”“It all starts with Coach Tilton,” Rafferty continued.“He’s the mastermind behind the program and a workhorse.He will get great players here, and he will get thebest out of the returners.”Coach Tilton embraced the challenge of putting togetheranother championship caliber team for the 2013-14season built around the team’s veteran members. “Wehave three returning kids that I’m excited to have,” hesaid. “Tony and Kendrick have the advantage of havingmultiple seasons under their belt, and they can carry onthe foundation of what made us successful. This year wemet for the rst time in June. Jordan wasn’t even on ourcollege trip. We start from ground zero every year.”Tilton also stressed the importance of maintainingthe team’s culture of hard work and brotherhood. “Thestandard is not the wins and losses,” he said. “The traditionwe expect to continue is that attitude of looking forwardto coming to the gym every day, enjoying those threehours, honing our game. This year’s team didn’t just comein here and magically win a championship, and I expectnext year’s squad to put in the same amount of work andpassion as the 2012-13 roster.”