Boys' Basketball Extends Win-Loss Streak
Postgraduate Zach Stenglein swats the ball, intercepting a crisp pass from a New Hampton player. Instinctively, he rushes down the court, the opposing team in pursuit. When he reaches the three-point line, Stenglein pulls up for the shot, arching the ball in the air. It bounces off the rim and onto the top of the backboard. The players sigh and turn their heads back to the defensive end of the court. Miraculously, the ball drops downwards and through the hoop to score yet another three points for the Exeter boys’ varsity basketball team. Unfortunately, this skillful play wasn’t enough for Big Red to take the win last Friday night, and the team fell 57-81 to the New Hampton School.
“Personally, I felt that we took a step forward even though it wasn’t how we imagined it to be so."
New Hampton is one of the strongest teams in the area. They proved to be an excellent opponent and allowed the Exeter team to identify its own mistakes and improve. “Personally, I felt that we took a step forward even though it wasn’t how we imagined it to be so. New Hampton is usually a powerhouse in New England,” senior and co-captain Brian Zhao explained. “They’re always a very strong program. They have a lot of talent and have a great coaching staff over there.” The tough competition didn’t level the team’s spirits, igniting a spark of intensity in the players.
The team expects to improve from this game, declaring that losses occur in the beginning of the season when players are still finding their footing and learning to play together. Stenglein talked about the team’s plans for practice this week, in which they will prepare to win against the Belmont Hill School. “We are going to keep up with our identity: a team that gives it all on defense. The next few days will be dedicated to that as well as executing our offense. We’ve got a very important week ahead of us. Two big Class A games.”
The game at New Hampton was also challenging because the team was playing in an unfamiliar gym and did not have friends cheering in the stands. Lower Kerick Walker said, “In terms of the atmosphere, there was a decent crowd rooting for them and obviously nobody rooting for us, so it was important for us to build our own energy.” Regardless, after a tough 3-23 start to the game, Exeter recovered and fought until the end, striving to play its best regardless of the score.
The boys expect to have a successful rest of the season. Their 5-5 record is already impressive compared to the 4-3 start last season. Despite a bumpy start to last season, the team won the championship tournament. Zhao described his hopes for the rest of the season. “We’re almost there as a team, even though perhaps the outside noise doesn’t give that impression,” he said. “I think that we’ve grown a lot from where we’ve started, but once we get there I expect to see a lot more positive results, a lot more wins [and] a lot more smiles.”
The team hopes to demonstrate its improvement at its upcoming home game versus Loomis Chaffee on Saturday. With support from the home crowd, Big Red is ready to win.