The boys’ basketball team has had an impressive start to the season, thanks to the positive impact of their new coach.
Coach John Stockton has used his years of basketball experience to revitalize the team. He was a coach at his alma mater Lesley University, where he also played basketball. Following this, Stockton coached at Lincoln-Sudbury for three years, and for the last three years he was the Head JV Coach and Associate Varsity Head Coach at Ashland High School.
“It’s [ARHS] a great program with high expectations and that’s really what drove me to want to be here,” Stockton said. “I had previous experience scouting Algonquin and I know that the program has always been very strong, so I was very interested in applying for the job.”
Even though it’s his first year here, Stockton has assessed the team and has faith in his players.
“We have nine returners, so whenever you have a majority of the team coming back, you always have higher expectations,” Stockton said. “This was a team that made the state tournament last year, so we have expectations to be back in it and win some games.”
Overall, his dream for the season is to win Mid-Wach A and do well in the Central Mass championship. Until then, it’s one game at a time.
“Like I’ve said to the team, every game day it’s just go 1-0,” Stockton said. “It’s about winning the game that’s in front of us.”
Junior captain Zach Ruthfield believes Stockton’s addition to the team has been valuable.
“It’s always hard being a new coach and coming to a team that has already been together, but he’s fitting in, he’s getting us the new setup and he’s getting us our new plays,” Ruthfield said. “We’re working together as a team and he’s helping us with that a lot.”
Additionally, Ruthfield attributes the intensity and productivity of practices to Stockton’s coaching.
“The drills he puts us through in practice help us out tremendously,” Ruthfield said. “They honestly get our fitness up, basketball IQ up and skills up.”
Senior captain Patrick Biamou shares Ruthfield’s sentiment.
“One thing that he [Coach Stockton] has been big on is getting out in transition, being the faster team and out-hustling everyone,” Biamou said. “We do a lot of conditioning at practice so we’re not the team that’s tired in the fourth quarter.”
The first game on Dec. 8 was a hard-fought 62-59 loss against Shepherd Hill. Coming off of the defeat, the team was looking for a bounce-back win in their second game against Marlboro. At the home opener, with a packed student section, the team pulled off a 56-49 victory.
“We really tried to make sure we don’t foul,” Stockton said, postgame. “We tried to execute better offensively. We felt like against Shepherd Hill, we gave up too many opportunities on the offensive end and that cost us in a close game. Today, we executed a lot better and we didn’t foul as much.”
With a current record of 2-6 and many more games left in the season, the team and Stockton are excited to continue working together.
“I thank our athletic director for hiring me and giving me this opportunity and I hope to see as many students at the games as possible,” Stockton said.
