Basketball season is starting back up, which means another season of RMHS boys varsity basketball.
Last year, the team finished with a 4-12 record. This year, they hope to improve their record and potentially, compete for the Middlesex league championship. RMHS will play their first official game at home against Melrose on December 12th at 6 pm. Melrose is coming off a 4-14 season last year, and comes to town with a new coach.
New changes have occurred since RMHS basketball last played a game. RMHS re-did the whole court and added brand new bleachers. Instead of a solid red circle at center court, it is now replaced with the Reading Rocket logo. The bleachers of the field house now say “RMHS” instead of just standard wooden bleachers. Overall, Reading invested in a new basketball floor, track, and bleachers to improve the athletic experience at RMHS.
Under head coach Paul Morrissey, Reading had been a consistent team in the Middlesex league. In an interview with Mr. Morrissey, he stated, “The first thing we hope to improve from last season is lack of injuries. We were hit by four really bad injuries last year that mostly hit the point guard and guard position, which is key to what we try to do.” He acknowledged the competition in the league in recent years, but hopes the team can stay competitive. “I hope we stay healthy–the Middlesex League’s hard. We were competitive in most of those. We have to have a healthy respect for how good the league is, top to bottom,” Mr. Morrissey said.
Many new and returning players are joining the team this year. Seniors Cooper Dean, Will Chute, Alex Merkle, Sean Duross, Luke Johnson will lead the charge. Juniors like Quinn Bakst, Liam Roberts, and Nekoh Aimes are all coming back to the team in larger roles. In addition, Junior Dominic Pate is making his debut for Varsity this season.
Overall, Mr. Morrissey is confident in their talent as a core group, hoping several playmakers are ready to compete. “Well, a lot of them are back from last year. I would focus on, Cooper Dean who will shoot, Liam Roberts, Quinn Bakst, Nekoh Aimes. Those five all played a lot last year, and then I got some seniors back like Luke Johnson, who played some last year and Sean Duross. It’s an older group. Dominic Pate is a junior; he played for us last year as well, so we have a lot of kids who played and got some minutes last year,” he noted.
Overall, this season has a lot of promise for the Rockets, as they focus on growing from last year. The new and returning players look to bounce back and seek competition in the Middlesex league.
