Bellingham Boys’ Basketball Looking to Improve
Bellingham Hoops Coach TJ Chiappone has high hopes that his boys’ team, which lost a lot of seniors this year, will boost offense and strengthen to become contenders for the State tourney.
By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer
Playing in a strong Tri-Valley League, Bellingham was only able to secure four wins last season, and from that team, they lost quiet a bit of talent, including their top player in Richard Laroche, who led the team in both scoring and rebounding. However, Coach TJ Chiappone believes his team can still play with the best of them.
“This is a program where we are looking to get better each and every game. We only have three seniors on the team and want to win now, but we do have our eye on the future a bit,” Chiappone said. “Thus far, our defense has been very solid, but we have been struggling to score and rebound. I knew coming in rebounding was going to be problematic, as we are not a big team. I’m hoping to overcome that with a team mentality, where everyone rebounds.”
According to the Bellingham coach, not a lot of his athletes work during the off-season to improve upon their basketball skills as they take part in two or three sports, and there are not a lot of basketball-first athletes as they lack skill and size.
Junior captains Ross Priscella and Tyler Ladouceur will be looked upon heavily to help guide the team throughout the season with their leadership skills. Ladouceur will be looked upon to rebound, but Bellingham will rely on his defensive play. Priscella, the team’s point guard, leads the Blackhawks in scoring (14 per game) and is second in rebounds (6.5) though the first five games of the season. Priscella has been on the team since his freshman campaign and is a second-year starter.
Another junior, Dasha Domercant, has played well in the early part of the season where he is averaging 9.5 points per contest and hauling down 5 rebounds.
Having only won one game in their first five outings, Chiappone is hoping that his team eventual finds the offense. Bellingham defeated Millis 49-42 and fell to Nipmuc 53-51, while the other three games were not even close.
“As a team, we are averaging in the 40’s per game, and that makes it tough to win games, when you don’t score a lot,” the Blackhawks coach said. “When you don’t score, that puts a lot of pressure on your defense, and eventually it takes its toll.”
Chiappone will also look to three seniors, Troy Simpson, Dylan Haggerty, and Marcus Hanson to get the team moving in the right direction this winter. The coach is hoping that Simpson, who will be playing forward, will provide the team with some scoring as well as rebounding. Haggerty, the team’s 6’2” center, currently leads the team in rebounding with seven a game and Hanson, although only a first-year varsity athlete, looks to have a nice outside shot.
“Marcus was on the JV team last year and is only playing in his first varsity season, but we will be relying on his three-point shooting ,” the Coach said. “He is a good shooter when he is available to shoot, but he needs to develop other parts of his game to be successful overall.”
Juniors Haroun Mafhoum and CJ Fama will also be looked upon to get this team over the hump and into the winning column. Mafhoum has shown that he has what it takes to play defense, and the Hawks will rely on him coming off the bench to be a defensive stopper and give the team a spark.
Fama is just coming back from an injury, but when fully healthy, the junior, Chiappone hopes, will be able to help boost the team and its totals.
“He’s a hustler and plays hard all over the floor and should definitely give the team a shot in the arm once he returns to full form,” Chiappone said.
Although the season hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts, Chiappone is still hoping that Bellingham can still make the tournament.
“That goal is obtainable, but as a team we need to make more shots. We hang around for a while, but eventually the defense wears down and can’t continue to make as many stops as they have been,” he said. “We’re missing a lot of open layups, which shouldn’t be happening on the varsity level. If we can fix our mistakes and start hitting some shots, it will change the complexion of our games.”
If the Bellingham players can make the adjustments that the coach is looking for they will have an opportunity to make the State Tournament and once there, who knows what can happen.
