After building some momentum in the holiday season, the Bow boys’ basketball team showed it could win in the regular season against a Division II favorite. The Falcons capitalized on their first-ever Capital Area Holiday Tournament win with an eye-opening 58-36 home win against Lebanon on Friday.
“It was a great win for us,” Bow coach Frank Moreno said, “they’re usually a powerhouse.”
Sophomore point guard Matt Lamy kept up his own holiday momentum. Lamy scored a game-high 23 points in the Cap Area championship game (a 63-45 win against Bishop Brady) and was named tournament MVP, and he scored 23 points again on Friday against the Raiders.
“He’s a baller,” Moreno said of the 6-foot-3 Lamy. “Matt is one of the guys you always see in the gym. He has aspirations to play at the next level, and he works consistently toward that.”
Despite the aspirations and accolades, Lamy keeps a team-first focus.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, they got me great looks to shoot the 3,” Lamy said after winning the Cap Area MVP. “I knocked down some foul shots and I did what I could to help the team win.”
Lamy only needs to help, because there is plenty of other talent on the team. Ben Harris, a 6-5 senior forward, and Shaun Lover, a 6-2 junior guard, were both on the Cap Area All-Tournament team with Lamy.
“Harris is really playing into his own, he’s been the anchor for us offensively and defensively.” Moreno said. “Lover’s basketball IQ is incredibly high. He understands the impact his effort has, even when he doesn’t score 15 points.”
The quality keeps going for Bow. Senior Nick Kiah, another big guard at 6-3, is a dangerous outside shooter and dropped 13 points on Lebanon. Steven Guerrette, a 6-2 senior who was just named the D-II North Football Player of the Year, brings an obvious physical presence and showed some scoring touch in the holiday tournament.
Bow has also been getting contributions from its bench. Sophomore Kyle Martin stepped in and drew two key charges in the second quarter against Lebanon, and junior Matt Cardarelli played tough defense in the second half on Friday. Those contributions on the defensive end are exactly what the Falcons are looking for this season.
“We changed our expectations from having a certain record or being a playoff team. Our goal was to establish ourselves as a very strong and formidable defensive team,” Moreno said. “We felt that if we could do that, we could ride that as far as it will take us.”
Not only do the Falcons have depth and defense, they also have hunger after missing the playoffs last year. They finished 4-14, but eight of those losses were by four points or less, so coming into this season one of the goals was learning how to finish games, and the team did just that over the holiday break.
“Going into that tournament our aim was to compete at a high level and get some experience closing out and winning games,” Moreno said. “The experience we got out of that, proving we can be a second-half team, is something that we’ll be able to carry with us late into the season.”