{"id":47151,"date":"2024-01-11T15:40:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T15:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=47151"},"modified":"2024-01-11T15:40:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T15:40:48","slug":"boys-varsity-basketball-looking-for-improvement-following-slow-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/01\/11\/boys-varsity-basketball-looking-for-improvement-following-slow-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Boys' varsity basketball looking for improvement following slow start"},"content":{"rendered":"
By John Orrell<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

HOLDEN \u2014 The early part of the 2023-2024 varsity basketball season has not been kind to the Wachusett Regional High School boys\u2019 varsity basketball team (1-6 as of Jan. 5), and while players and coaches across the roster acknowledge that improvement is critical, no one is ready to capitulate at this stage of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a balance of young and old and in-between,\u201d explained WRHS head coach Tom Gibbons, whose team fell to visiting Fitchburg High, 65-55, on Jan.5. \u201cWe\u2019re going to get better as a team and improve and take it one win at a time. At the end of the year, we\u2019re going to be a tough team to beat. We need to keep everyone positive and forget about the record for now and focus on getting our defense better, rebounding a bit better, and trying to get that one win that can jumpstart us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a couple of 3-pointers go in and out tonight. We missed a couple of free throws, too, and we couldn\u2019t get a big start when we needed it. We didn\u2019t rebound as well, so we\u2019ve got a lot to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve struggled with slow starts as a team, and I think that\u2019s a big part of what\u2019s going on,\u201d added senior forward Dillon Harper. \u201cAnother big thing we need to work on is being physical. They were pushing us around. I feel like me and a couple of others have a lot of heart for the team, but we need to get everyone on board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to start beating the teams that we should be beating. Tonight was a winnable game, and I feel like we played under our expectations. We just need to get that one win to get us over the hump and we\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Versus the Red Raiders, it was Wachusett jumping out to a 12-8 first quarter advantage with juniors Erik Maziarz (16 points on the night) and Seann Katubi (17 points) pacing the green and white.<\/p>\n

The Mountaineers would hit a soft spot before intermission, allowing Fitchburg to grab the lead that they would not relinquish going on top, 29-22. Wachusett would hit some key baskets down the stretch, but it wasn\u2019t enough to hold the Red Raiders at bay.<\/p>\n

One player to keep an eye on as the season progresses is Katubi, who plays with intensity and knows how to dial it up when the opportunity arises.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing about this team is that we all love each other even though we\u2019re having our struggles right now,\u201d said Katubi. \u201cEveryone on the team wants to play for each other. It\u2019s all about making that extra pass, which we\u2019ve been doing. Late in the third quarter and into the fourth, that\u2019s what we started to do, which is why the game started to get into short margins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coaches are trying to encourage us to shoot more. Once I reached my junior year, I decided that I wanted to elevate my game. Coach Gibbons has given me the confidence that I need to shoot the 3-ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of the 2023-2024 Wachusett Regional High boys varsity basketball team are Erik Maziarz, Dillon Harper, Hunter Berry, Mitchell Donkor, Thomas Rovezzi, Sam Mulroy, Thomas Anderson, Seann Katubi, Miles Paredes, Logan Dennett, CJ Goode, Vincent Cappabianca, Chris Pickett, Pierce Rettig and Joe Raeke.<\/p>\n

The team is head-coached by Tom Gibbons, assisted by Zack Berman, Bryan Riley, Corey Haynes, Brian Alisch and Nick Baldino. Student assistant is Jace Duval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Orrell Landmark Correspondent HOLDEN \u2014 The early part of the 2023-2024 varsity basketball season has not been kind to the Wachusett Regional High School boys\u2019 varsity basketball team (1-6 as of Jan. 5), and while players and coaches across the roster acknowledge that improvement is critical, no one is ready to capitulate at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}