WASHBURN, Maine — Mike Hartford’s first year as the Beaver boys’ head coach did not go smoothly.
The Beavers missed the postseason for the first time in several years and posted a disappointing record of 5-13.
“I feel last year we let ourselves down,” said Hartford, who was a longtime assistant under Randy Norsworthy before taking over the program in 2016. “We felt we could make the playoffs and fell just one win away from that happening.
“We had a number of missed games by players and that really affected what we could do because it often left us with a really short rotation of players,” he added.
The coach said his goal is to make sure the 11 players on the current roster are consistently healthy and available to play.
Washburn will certainly miss the presence of McCall Turner and Caleb Thompson, who both graduated last spring, while Quintin Thompson, a junior, was in a serious car accident in August and will be brought along slowly in his return to the court.
“Losing the leadership of McCall and Caleb cannot be replaced and now we have no players with post-season experience on the roster,” Hartford said. “Ninety five percent of our scoring came from those three players.”
He said that offensive balance will be important if the Beavers are to experience success.
“We will need last year’s role players and some new players to step up and take on scoring responsibilities,” Hartford said. “I don’t expect to have 15 to 20 point scorers, but I am hoping to have a number of 8 to 12 point per game scorers to make up for that offensive loss.”
With Thompson out of the picture to begin the campaign, Hartford will go with a lineup consisting of Aidan Churchill and Jovanni Taveras in the backcourt and Konner Jordan, Carvor Pendexter and Noah White up front.
Churchill, a freshman, was on last year’s roster the second half of the season. He owns a high basketball IQ and is quick, with the ability to score in the paint despite his lack of size and from the perimeter. He will run the point. Taveras, a junior, is the team’s best overall athlete and can get to the rim and also hit shots from within 15 feet of the basket.
Jordan is a senior who possesses a long wingspan and good quickness. He will be counted on to provide inside scoring and strong defense against opponents’ better wing players. Pendexter has emerged as the Beavers’ primary post player. The junior missed a lot of time last year due to injury, but is stronger and more aggressive offensively this year and has played well early on. White was the starting guard last year and is being moved to forward. The junior has worked on his ball handling and post play to expand his offensive game.
Junior Zakk Tracy and sophomore Colby Hewitt saw some time as reserves a season ago and will have increased responsibilities while still coming off the bench. Junior Patrick Saucier has moved in from Ohio and although he has never played organized basketball, has been solid defensively during early workouts and will serve as a backup post player for the Beavers.
Freshman Damien Douglass and junior Steven Nader are others on the roster. Lance Albair is the new JV coach and varsity assistant and Andy Churchill also will help out as a volunteer. Carly Bragg is the team’s manager/statistician.
“I don’t see us being as successful slowing the game down,” Hartford said. “We will need to be aggressive defensively and press, trap and run to be competitive.”
