By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

After playing near .500 basketball for the 2023-24 season, the Bartlett boys basketball team found themselves with a 29 seed entering the Division 5 State Tournament. Once there the Indians were tied at 55-55 and looking to go into overtime, but Minuteman Regional tossed up a half court shot to take the victory 58-55.

This year the team is relatively young, with only three seniors gracing their roster, but coach Alex Hetherman noted that the boys are still plugging along and at the time of this writing were a respectable 4-6 with their goals still intact.

“We want to go out and compete on a regular basis while hoping to make the Clark Tournament and get back into the State Tournament,” he said. “By the end of the season we want to be the best Bartlett team that we can be; if we do that then we won’t be disappointed.”

The Indians coach went on to say that unfortunately the team has not been to the Clark Tournament in some time (Bartlett last was invited to the Clark Tournament in 2019). Through the years the program has claimed eight Clark Titles in addition to getting to the finals more than any other team.

Hovering around .500 as the season moves along is a good beginning for the squad, but they have a big stretch ahead of them with some challenging games. Hoping to lead the Indians over the hump and back into the tournaments is senior captain Cole Sebastyanski. The senior has been on the varsity team since his sophomore campaign and is averaging 12 points a game this year while providing important leadership to the younger players.

In addition to Sebastyanski, Hetherman will be looking to senior guard Adam Urato, a good shooter, and senior forward Aiden Wolfram, a hard player who rebounds well and provides the team with great defense.

“All three have provided steady leadership this season and I hope that they can continue that as we hit a tough schedule coming up in the second half of the season and how we play could determine our season,” Hetherman said. “Like I said earlier – our main goal is to be the best Bartlett team that we can by the end of the season.”

Outside the seniors, junior captain Kenny Arpin, who is entering his third year on the varsity squad, will also be guiding this program throughout the year. According to the Coach, Arpin is not only the voice of the team, but they will go as far as he goes. The junior is averaging about 18 points per game and makes everyone around hm that much better.

“He has earned everything and nothing was given to him,” Hetherman said. “He’ll continue to lead us this year as well as into the next year. Last year he was averaging about 12 or 13 points, so he has made a decent jump this year with his scoring.”

The junior has taken nothing for granted, prior to the season he worked extremely hard and has already made a name for himself on the courts. In his first four games of the season, he scored 28, 26, 25 and 25 points respectively, and the word got around about his ability and teams are now scheming around him and his game.

Hetherman will also be looking to juniors Travis Russell, who has been starting since his sophomore season, LJ Villegas, the team’s big man at center and guard Lawrence Smith. Sophomore center Tyler Whiting will also play a contributing role as well.

While the Indians have continued to be competitive they have had their struggles as their home court has been under renovation for the past few seasons and have been forced to play games at the St. Joseph Elementary School and practice at Park Ave. Elementary School. 

“It’s been a challenge for the boys being only able to play at St Josephs while practicing elsewhere,” the coach said. “Playing every day. on the road with no locker rooms makes things tough, but we are thankful to have the two elementary schools at our access. We can not wait until our new gym is ready next year.”