Basketball Hopes
By Jarrett Patch
By Jarrett Patch
The boys basketball team has been working hard to build back their team with the loss of four Seniors. New players have come in to fill the spots. Proctor is known for Championship teams, but recently the team has been lackluster.
Graduates like Carter Crossmon, Matt Nop, Matt Plucin, and Isaac Parker were all key players in the sport last year. Now they’ve all moved on. New senior Jordan Cole brings some aggressiveness and skill to the squad. Cole is also the only senior on the squad.
Recently a new player has arrived, Aarion Camp (Ari). Ari used to go to Poultney and Rutland, but came to Proctor for a new start.
People were thinking that he was only here for his friend Jorden Cole, but that wasn't the case for the junior as he said that he liked Proctor because the teachers help him with his work and likes the students there as well.
The basketball squad has chemistry, a lot of players have been playing basketball since they were 4/5 years old and playing together for years. Aaron Brock and Chase Razanouski have been playing for a long time and now this year, as juniors, they are the captains of their squad and trying to lead their team to a championship game.
“I work really well with Chase because we've been playing basketball since we were in fourth grade, and a lot of times we have a lot of assists together. We find each other on the court a lot,” Aaron states.
They started off the season playing some of the hardest teams in the state, including Danville, a 13/4 team who beat the Phantoms 93-19. They have also played some Division 3 schools, White River Valley is one of them.
“The season started off iffy because we all have not played together but we are on the same page,” Aaron adds.
They have had a tough schedule as they played the hardest teams in their division first. When it seemed that all hope was lost, they got a break playing the easier teams in their division.
“ We've won the last 4 out of 5 games and we hope to win these last three,” Senior Jorden Cole said.
Although the team chemistry is great, the team as a whole is something else. “ They are the captains they need to lead us to a win, and when we are down by 5, people just give up on scoring and overall just playing the game,” Cole said.
Recently one of their best point guards, Mason Brothers had an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season. Mason broke his wrist and will be out of sports for two months.
“I was upset because he gave us his all. Mason led in assists. one of our top point guards out, is really going to hurt us,” Jorden says.
Proctor has been trying to fill in that gap for Mason but the hole is way too big to fill. First game back without Mason, Proctor Boys Coach Jeremy Cole started junior Kaden Dean, a 6 '3 big man hoping for some height on the court.
“I thought that we were going to have a winning record, but the first half of the season we faced some of the toughest times in our division, but recently we’ve been playing our best basketball,” Aaron says as he looks forward to the next playoff game.
The Proctor boys finished their season 9-10 and won against Arlington on Wednesday February 26. They will play the number one seed West Rutland, on Friday February 28.