By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

As always, the goals put forth by the Grafton boys basketball team is the same that it’s been in the past: make the Clark Tournament, qualify for the Division 2 State Tournament and win the South Worcester County League (SWCL). While the Gators have been able to get into the State Tournament with regularity, they have not been able to win too many games once there. On the other hand, Grafton has been to many Clark Tournaments and done well for themselves.

“It is always a big deal to get into the Clark Tournament and advance through it. We have advanced to the championship and semifinals in previous years and just two years ago were in the Semifinals,” Grafton boys basketball coach John Patraitis said. “We are the longest running school to have qualified for the Clark Tournament and we are proud of our consistency over the last several years.”

Senior captain Jake Robertson echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“We obviously want to make it to the Clark Tournament, it’s a really big deal to do so,” he said. “Then we want to get into the state playoffs and win a game. I don’t think that we’ve done that in some time.”

The Gators earned a 19 seed in the Division 2 Tournament last year and had a first-round bye before meeting up with Bedford,  a team that would eventually lose in the Final 4. Grafton hung with Bedford for a good part of the game but eventually the Buccaneers would take off and win the game 53-41.

“Last year we had a really good team (14-6 in the regular season), the best in sometime. We lost our top two leaders but we have three starters coming back and we should be able to continue winning,” Roberstson said. “Playing defense is our calling card and although we may be undersized this year we do have players who can score and give us the opportunity to win.”

In order to capture any of the three goals Grafton is going to have to keep their opponents under 50 points per game and if they can continue to do that Patraitis is rather confident that thing will fall in place. 

“We talk about this daily: if we can keep our opponents under 50 we will be competitive and have a very good chance of getting a win,” the coach said. “Defense pushes our offense into transition and we like to play quick. I feel that if we do this and push the basketball up the court as fast as possible we can expose the other team and be successful.”

The three returning starters who will be the leaders on this year’s team are Robertson, James Hannah and Larry Lamar. Robertson was a top defensive stopper last winter for the Gators, but this year the coach is asking him to pick up his scoring numbers and through the early part of the season he is doing just that. Hannah has moved into the vacant center position and like Robertson wasn’t asked to do too much last season, but things are different this year.

“James was primarily used for his defense, rebounding and rim protection last year,” Patraitis said. “We didn’t ask him to do that much scoring as we had players in front of him doing that, but this year we’re going to need more scoring from him and Jake.” (Robertson is currently the team’s second leading scorer, while Hannah is third).

Lamar is the team’s starting point guard and leading scorer. Last season he averaged 17 points per game and so far this year he has increased that to 21. According to the coach, Lamar is a tough individual to handle and the other teams are scouting him. The senior point guard can drive to the hoop and get to the rim with the best of them; he is a physically strong player that doesn’t shy away from contact. 

The other two starters will be Lucas McInery, a small forward who came off the bench last year and logged some significant minutes for Grafton and junior Lucas Montvitt, a swing player last year who is making big strides this year and is becoming more confident in his game.

Rounding out the significant players will be junior Zealand Youngblood, the team’s sixth man. According to Patraitis, he sets the tone defensively and brings an energy off the bench giving the Gators a great advantage.

“There are a lot of new roles this season and all of the guys are taking it seriously and it seems to be working so far,” the Grafton Coach said.

Roberstson noted that despite the team being on the younger side, the younger players have been stepping up and the team should be in good shape to go after their goals.