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ME Hornet Sam Athanas drives to the hoop in a game with Bay Path in Round 32 of the MIAA tournament. Athanas is one of 4 graduating seniors on the team.
(Photo Paul Clark)
Despite their best efforts, the Manchester Essex boys’ basketball team couldn’t pull off a win over higher-seeded Cathedral in the Div. 4 Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.
In 2022, the Hornets went into Boston and toppled the Panthers by three points to move on to the Elite Eight. With much of last year’s squad back this season, the hope was that Manchester Essex would be able to replicate a similar result in 2023 and perhaps go even deeper into the tourney.
Alas, it was not to be. The Hornets lost to Cathedral by three points this time around -- a 50-47 loss on March 6 -- ending the local team’s season and putting an end to a repeat performance in the Round of 16.
“You have to play 32 minutes to win a basketball game versus a good team,” explains Manchester Essex boys basketball coach Tim St. Laurent. “We talked about this a lot during the season -- that to beat us, you have to play for 32 minutes. In the tournament game, we played great, but had a couple of episodes of time where we were not at our best and needed to limit these periods as much as possible in a big game. We will definitely remind our teams this in future years.”
Despite the outcome, St Laurent lauded his team’s defensive efforts in the contest, with the Hornets limiting the Panthers to a mere 17 points in the first half. Cathedral found its scoring touch in the second half, however, and flipped the script.
“Losing during the tournament is never easy, whenever it happens,” says St. Laurent. “The team had goals to make a very deep run. As the coach, I look at the effort of the players and they played their hearts out and I was very happy with their effort. Of course, we were disappointed in the outcome, that is normal but what is most important is that they played hard, had great attitudes, and were great teammates. That is most important to me.”
Manchester Essex loses four seniors to graduation in Brennan Twombley, Sam Athanas, Ben Hurd and Patrick Cronin.
“All four players brought versatility and leadership to the team,” says St. Laurent. “They will be greatly missed.”
The good news? All-Cape Ann League first-team selections Ed Chareas and Cade Furse will be back next season. Furse was named CAL Player of the Year.
“Both players will be the two best players in the league, and they are both coming back for the Hornets,” explains St. Laurent. “In addition, the junior varsity teams had a very successful season, and we are looking forward to those players joining the varsity team in a bigger role next year.”
