Cydney Ventura
Reporter
After winning only two games in the 2011-2012 season, the boy’s basketball team got right back on track this year with the help of their new coach, Mike Evans. The boys pulled out an overall record of six wins and fourteen losses by the end of the 2012-2013 season.
Even though Coach Evans was new this year, he led the team to many victories and the boys adapted well to his new coaching styles. Senior captain Matt Swift believes that Evans was a contributing factor to their many wins. “Coach Evans definitely changed New Canaan basketball completely. He’s a very organized and strict coach who’s a great teacher of the game and he’s definitely turning the program around,” he said.
Senior captain Henry Lavieri agreed that the new coach was a big advantage this year. “Coach Evans was a great addition to New Canaan basketball this year,” he said. “He brought a new level of passion and understanding of the game which really helped us this season.”
Matt had high expectations coming into the season, even though other teams doubted their potential. “Everybody around the league would’ve said we’d finish last place but we knew we could have a successful season,” he said. “We had a goal of making it to the state tournament but came up two wins short. Overall, I think we just about met our expectations and exceeded everybody else’s.”
Even though the boys’ basketball team will be losing many seniors next year, Henry believes that they will be able to perform well in years to come given the abundance of strong underclassmen. “I think next year will be good for NC basketball because there’s a lot of young talent in the sophomore and junior grades and Coach Evans will put a winning team on the court,” he said.
Matt also expects the younger kids to step up and continue to lead the team to success. A few standouts include freshman Kyle Smith, sophomores Zach Allen and Claude Chandonnet and junior Erik Jager. “I think the team next year will be okay even with the loss of so many seniors. There are a lot of young guys who are ready to step up and take over. I expect them to do really well next year.”
