By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
In another attempt to record their first win of the season, the boys varsity basketball team fell short again. They took a 80-68 loss at the hands of the Medfield Warriors.
The Raiders got off to a slow start, letting up a 16-4 run at the beginning of the game.
“We had a really hard time guarding them,” said head coach Rick Grady. “I think, offensively, we were settling for a lot of jump shots and they weren’t going in. It took us a little while to change it up and try some different things.”
In an effort to halt Medfield’s offense, the Raiders switched to a two-three zone defense.
“I think the zone was effective to an extent,” said Grady. “I mean, we needed to try something different and we got ourselves back in the game.”
In doing so, they were able to even the playing field and transition defense to offense.
The senior trio of captains Theo Allan, Grant Sullivan and Thomas Churney combined for 18 points in the first half.
Dover-Sherborn was able to end the second half on a miniature run of their own to keep the game within reach, heading to the locker room down 38-25.
With momentum on their side, the Raiders started the second half on a 10-5 run much due to their presence in the paint.
“I think we had more success getting to the rim and hitting the offensive boards,” said Grady. “When you’re struggling to score you need things like that to lift you up.”
Keeping up their energy going into the fourth quarter, the Raiders cut the deficit to four points with under four minutes left in the game.
To their demise, that was as close as the score would get. Medfield scored a quick five points to close out the game.
“Unfortunately that’s how our first three games have gone,” said Grady. “We’ve been close. We’ve kind of put ourselves in a tough situation, [then climbed] back in. Ultimately, [we] haven’t been able to get over the hump yet but we’ll get there.”
Although their efforts were not enough to get the victory, Grady was quick to point out the positive takeaways while admitting that there is still much to improve on.
“If we score in the sixties, I expect us to win but we’re not doing a good enough job on the defensive end,” said the head coach. “We’ll play well defensively in stretches but we have to play a complete game. Winning in this league, you have to play a complete game and we just haven’t quite done that.”
They will have another chance to get their first win on December 22 in the Nipmuc Holiday Classic Tournament.
