The Algonquin boys basketball team may have had its fire put out after falling one game short of reaching the state playoffs last season.
But that did not extinguish the burning desire within each returning Algonquin player ready to take the next step in 2012-13.
Under the guidance of first-year head coach Brian Doherty, the Tomahawks took the court Friday night against their old Central Mass. rival Marlborough eager to start the season off on the right foot.
It appeared as if Algonquin was three steps ahead of Marlborough as Brandon Lukoff buried two early 3-pointers to put the Tomahawks up 10-0 just two minutes into the first quarter.
Algonquin never looked back as it rolled to a 67-35 victory.
"We wanted to have our defense fuel our offense tonight, that?s the way we wanted to play and I thought we worked really hard on that end against a well-coached team like Marlborough," Doherty said. "We put so much effort in practice, working on our man-to-man defense, and each guy did a great job overall. I?m satisfied with the defense we played tonight."
Algonquin?s defense suffocated the Panthers? offensive attack all night. After losing 10 players to graduation off last year?s playoff team, Marlborough?s inexperience clearly showed.
Marlborough did not get on the scoreboard until 3:47 left in the first quarter when senior Jacob Goulet drilled a 3-pointer.
"We have a lot of players with inexperience who are learning how to execute and play winning basketball and it showed out there tonight," Marlborough coach Ilya Nicholas said. "There?s no need to get down, no matter how much we lost by tonight, it was just one game. We have an entire season to look forward to and we?ll regroup and get better."
Goulet?s long-range shot made the score 12-3, but Algonquin scored 13 of the next 16 points to take a commanding 25-6 lead after the first quarter.
The Tomahawks? roll spilled over into the second quarter as several players contributed in the scoring column.
Nick Speranzella, Brandon Lukoff, Michael Stamas, and Brad Canova each scored eight points during the opening half as the hosts took a 40-10 lead into the break.
It was 6-foot-8 sophomore A.J. Brodeur that led Algonquin in scoring for the night with 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
"We have great chemistry on our team," Canova said. "We have great seniors that provide leadership and want to help the younger players on the team and that showed tonight. We were all looking for each other and it?s fun to play when guys share the ball."
"The balance we had tonight was outstanding. These guys have had some time together as a unit to get familiar with each other over the past couple of seasons and it showed," Doherty added.
Though pleased with the win, Doherty was concerned with the abundance of foul calls (17) against his team in the second half.
"I like that we were aggressive, but we have to cut down on the number of fouls we commit moving forward," said Doherty, whose team plays Shepherd Hill next on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Panthers will face St. John's on Tuesday with an opportunity to wipe Friday night?s disappointing loss from their memory.
"This is definitely not a rebuilding year for us," Nicholas said. "We have been one of the top teams in our league for the past eight seasons and even though we lost quite a few players off of our team I expect us to be there again towards the end of the season. St. John's represents a chance for us to get better and come together."
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