Exeter Disappointed by Loss to Choate
After beating Andover last Wednesday by a remarkable 38 point margin, Exeter came into Saturday’s game against Choate, a historically strong program, with an abundance of confidence. “I would say going into the game we definitely had a positive mindset,” post-grad Liam McKersie said. Choate had just beaten Big Blue by 19 points, so there was reason to believe Exeter would have a good chance at a victory. “We had strung together back-to-back wins prior to the Choate game, and we shot the ball as well as we had all year,” McKersie added.
Despite their projected success, Big Red failed to execute when they needed to, resulting in a disappointing 72-62 loss to the Wild Boars. As three-year varsity veteran Max Kirsch said, “It just wasn’t our day.”
Choate surprised Exeter early on, coming out of the gate swinging and gaining an early lead in the first half. However, Exeter managed to contain the Boars well, going into halftime down only four points, Even with a valiant effort by the whole team, Big Red never gained the momentum to mount a comeback. “It was hard to get anything going on a consistent basis, and Choate just outplayed us,” Kirsch said.
"This isn’t a team to let one loss get us down. We are ready to use this loss as fuel for the season.”
The loss, as a whole, can be attributed to the team’s failure to play consistently, according to Kirsch. McKersie said that Exeter allowed their own underwhelming performance in the first half to override any chances they had of coming back. “Shots weren’t falling like they had been in the previous two games, and we let that get to our heads, which affected how we defended,” McKersie said. “In the future, we can definitely work on being positive through adversity.”
Nevertheless, since the defeat, the team has maintained a positive mindset about the rest of the season. “This isn’t a team to let one loss get us down. We are ready to use this loss as fuel for the season,” Kirsch said.
McKersie echoed Kirsch’s sentiments, adding that the Choate game was “a really good reality check. It showed us that we still have a lot of room to grow, and that if we want to get to the ‘promised land,’ we can’t forget about the day-to-day work and grind that will get us there.” Whether or not they arrive at the “promised land” of winning the New England Championships, Big Red basketball is certainly going to be a major contender for the prestigious title.
This coming Saturday Exeter will face off against the 9-3 New Hampton School, whom they lost to 67-38 last year.