Boys’ Basketball Fights Hard Against Cushing; Loses by Three Points in Overtime

EXETER - Boys’ varsity basketball gave it their all this weekend against an elite Cushing Academy team. Cushing, a .750 team, is led by a Syracuse commit and a player with offers from Kansas. The two combined for almost two-thirds of the points against Exeter. After the 69-66 overtime loss to Cushing, Big Red’s streak of close losses was extended to three hard-fought games.After a seven-point deficit at halftime, the Cushing game was oddly similar to the Tilton game a week before, but this time the roles were reversed. A more high-pressure defense forcing turnovers got Exeter another shot at winning the game. Alas, the Cinderella story was not meant to be, because after a questionable no-call as regulation expired, Cushing closed with a three to seal the deal. However, the difference between Tilton and Cushing is that Cushing, just from looking at the numbers, should have routed Big Red, and the fact that the game came so close offers hopeful signs for the approaching E/A. Cushing handily trounced Andover by 16 points earlier in the season, and after playing Cushing so close Big Red have high hopes for this weekend’s E/A.“We've known we can play with anybody for a while now, unfortunately we fell a possession or two short last Saturday,” lower Perry DeLorenzo said. “We finally started to execute pretty well offensively, but couldn't get key stops to get the win in regulation or in overtime. But we're going to build off the loss on Saturday and use it as fuel for the rest of our season.”“The loss was really hard to handle. If we had eliminated a few mistakes earlier in the game it might have ended differently,” post-graduate Miki Ljuboja said. “The experience showed us that we can play with anyone after going down to the wire with such a talented team. We need to have a string of solid practices and a strong showing against Thayer on Wednesday to get ready for E/A.”And a strong showing against Thayer they did have. At least, that’s if you count a 33-point thrashing as “a strong showing.” Rebounding off the loss streak, Exeter dominated the Thayer squad, opening and closing the season with a win over them.But that’s not Big Red’s focus. After last year’s superteam humiliated Andover, all of us at Exeter have been spoiled by basketball and will expect another mind-bendingly one-sided game. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you like tight games), the E/A this year will be close. Judging from common opponents and NEPSAC A power rankings, Exeter has a slight edge, but not much. This will be a great game, but it’ll also be a game of firsts and lasts.“We are all extremely excited about E/A,” post-graduate Jeb Helmers said. “It obviously has all the weight of any game against Andover but it’s also a huge league game with big playoff implications. It something we are working very hard to be ready for.”“It’s going to be fun to play in my first E/A game,” said prep Mitch Kirsch. “I have seen the last few from the sidelines and the atmosphere is unforgettable. But the team goal is to win the game, and we have to stay focused.”Everyone is looking forward to E/A, and while Andover may have had a little cop-out by scheduling both of the most popular games at the same time so that not many people see them lose both (BVBB at 4:00 and BVH at 4:15), it should turn out to be a game for everyone watching to enjoy.“E/A carries a lot of weight and emotion by itself, but as my fourth and final one, the emotion and the atmosphere will never have meant so much,” senior captain Tony Karalekas said. “I’ve never lost to Andover in my four years on the team, and I plan to keep it that way. We have a solid, young team, but with only three E/A veterans, it’ll be interesting to see how we fare. Nevertheless, it’ll be Kendrick and my last E/A, and we won’t have anything like this in college—there won’t be anything this big. I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can.”