The tournament run may be over, but the potential for an encore performance from the Manchester Essex boys’ basketball team seems very likely.
A closer-than-it-looks-on-paper, 59-49 loss to Lynn Vocational in the MIAA Div. 4 Sweet 16 ended the Hornets’ memorable season on March 5. The loss brings an end to a season in which Manchester Essex went 15-5 during the regular season and took home the Cape Ann League crown, and saw coach Tim St. Laurent earn his second straight Coach of the Year nod from the CAL, and three of its players take home CAL all-league honors.
While it’s a shame to see this run come to a close, there is hope for the future here as the team returns four of its five starters from this squad next
winter, and the Hornets can elevate the younger players who went 17-3 on the MERHS junior varsity team to the varsity level.
“The best thing is the promise for the future,” explains St. Laurent. “We’re bringing back four out of five starters who started in 22 games, and also bringing back Zach Hurd who started in a handful of games. That is a major promising thing for the future. The second thing is to highlight that
the junior varsity team went 17-3, and we have a well-built feeder system of players coming in.”
Sophomore sensations Graham Lewis, Alex Ste. Marie and Jacob Zachareas will be back for their junior years, while Hurd, Jake Zschau and Johnny Chareas will all be seniors next winter. Chareas was a CAL first-team all-league selection, while Ste. Marie and Lewis were second team selections.
“Johnny was one of the best players in the league, and he deserves it,” says St. Laurent. “For Graham and Alex to get it as sophomores -- it’s well-deserved.”
Two players, who won’t be back for a potential encore in 2025-26, are graduating seniors Ben Jacobsen and Milo Zeltzer. St. Laurent states that both will be missed.
“We’re losing two incredible young men,” explains the coach. “Ben Jacobsen has been on varsity for three years. He’s a great shooter, but the biggest thing he did was leadership. He was one of our captains, and I give him a lot of credit for having a young team.
Of four-year varsity player and two-year starter Zeltzer, he adds: “Milo is the defensive player of the
year on our team, and it’s the second year in a row he’s going to get it.”
After a season like this -- this is the fifth CAL Baker title in a row for the Hornets, and sixth in the last seven years -- it’s natural to not want to see it end. Hopefully, there will be more to come from this group in late 2025.
“I think it goes to the work ethic of the players on the team,” explains St. Laurent. “They work hard year-round on basketball, and we wouldn’t be successful if they didn’t.”
As for the 59-49 loss to Lynn Vocational, Manchester Essex was in this one for most of the contest, but could not get over the hump and close the scoring gap.
“We were up one at halftime, and down three at the end of the third,” says St. Laurent. “Then we sat around four and six the entire game after that. We had to press to scramble and get points, but unfortunately it didn’t work. It was an outstanding game; we just didn’t hit the shots that we usually make.”
