Boys’ basketball falls short in season finale
Junior Joe Russell pulls up for a 3-pointer contested by a St. John’s defender in the fourth quarter of the boys’ varsity basketball game on Feb. 21.
March 4, 2022
Boys’ basketball finished their season with a 5-15 record after a 62-46 home loss against the St. John’s Pioneers on Monday, Feb. 21.
While St. John’s got off to a hot start, Algonquin nearly caught up headed into halftime, making it a close, defense-heavy 21-19 first half. However, a 14-2 run by the Pioneers to begin the second half took this from a close game to a comfortable St. John’s victory.
“Going into the second half, we were confident and had them where we wanted them,” senior James Clark said. “We just had a flat third quarter, which has been a common issue for us.”
St. John’s was led by a young core of players. St. John’s sophomore Noah Basgaard, who has averaged around 12 points per game this season, contributed 16 in his first game back from an injury. St. John’s freshman Nick Barnes led the Pioneers with 19 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Algonquin had trouble stopping Barnes’ three-point shooting.
“Barnes capitalized when we made mistakes,” junior Jack Gamache said. “He’s a young kid, so I’m sure he’s got good things ahead of him.”
It was junior Harry Stanwood who led Algonquin with 10 points. He was also the team’s season leader in points per game, averaging around 11 per game.
“I put in a lot of work in the offseason, so I knew I was going to play well this year,” Stanwood said. “I just trusted my work, and my teammates helped me succeed.”
However, it was truly a team effort that allowed Algonquin to keep up with St. John’s for much of the game. Six different players scored five or more points: Stanwood, Gamache, juniors Joe Russell and Lukas Singh as well as Clark and senior Lucas Ramondo.
“We each had to take on our role,” Clark said. “We all know we underperformed this season, but I think we all played our roles well. We didn’t really have that stud player, we just had five, six, seven guys that could play basketball together.”
While the team missed the playoffs due to their losing record, Gamache believes this team was competitive throughout the season.
“We knew we were going to have a tough schedule,” Gamache said. “We started off the season 4-1; we were winning games at the end. Obviously it didn’t go to plan, but I think this is a better team than our record reflects.”
The team hopes to turn things around next year as they bring back a good portion of this year’s players, including many juniors as well as a few sophomores such as Patrick Biamou and Zach Meehl. There are just two seniors on the team: Clark and Ramondo.
“I think [this team] has a bright future between the sophomore class and the junior class right now,” Clark said. “I think they’ll be a strong playoff team next year, and I have no doubt in my mind they could make a run at the state tournament.”
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