On a chilly February 27th afternoon, the Boys Varsity Basketball team rocked their opponent Dexter Southfield at home. Led by Coach Baudinet, the team hosted as the #1 seed in the NEPSAC Class B Tournament. The mix of energy from the crowd and players led to a fast paced game. Both teams jostled for position as they got off to a slow start.
After the game, Coach Baudinet said, “There’s no scenario that we haven’t seen. We’re prepared for anything.” And they certainly were.
Charles “Charlie” Campbell, ‘20, starting heating up. After a minute and a half of no points from either team, he proceeded to hit three straight three pointers.
Coach Baudinet said, “Charlie coming in and making his first three 3’s like he did just took the nerves right out of it and got us settled in.”
Trayvon “Tray” Alexander, ‘20, shed some light on how it was on the court while expanding on Coach’s point. “It’s a good feeling when we know someone’s hot along with the rest of the team clicking… And me, knowing Charlie was hot, I had to find ways to get him the ball.”
Charlie continued on his rampage throughout the whole game lighting up a total of 19 points with a three point shooting percentage of 71%. Needless to say, he lit the crowd, bench, and stat sheet up.
We also saw some impressive play making as well from Tray. He turned up on almost every stat possible recording 15 points, 50% field shooting percentage, two rebounds, two steals, and seven assists. As the playmaker of the team, he orchestrated the offense practically to perfection, especially with his passes.
He certainly led like a playmaker as well. The crowd certainly loved it whenever he had the ball in his hands. At the free throw line towards the end of the game, chants of MVP rang out from the crowd.
When asked about it, Tray responded with, “It’s a surreal feeling at the time. It’s always good when you have your school on your side, helping you push through a game, especially a big one like that… Hearing that gave me a boost while I was playing.”
Coach Baudinet described him as, “A great kid. He’s really respected around campus and also within our team. He is our leader.”
The unanimous “quarterback” of the team will continue pushing himself, he said, so he can, “…hold [myself] accountable even though I’m not the oldest or anything like that…” Tray will continue his leadership and style of play to the semifinals.
Yet, it wasn’t all sunshine and flowers in the game. Bryan Powell, ‘19, throughout the whole game had been having some foul trouble matching up against an opponent.
Coach Baudinet chuckled and said, “He’s gotten in foul trouble in quite a few games and that’s not necessarily a bad thing… he’s competing. There are good fouls when you’re battling somebody bigger and stronger and then there’s bad fouls kind of when you lose your head.”
Coach continued, adding, “…there were a couple of bad whistles against him but you have to deal with that.” And he certainly did.
“Coach said don’t get into an arm wrestling match with him because that’s how I’m going to pick up fouls,” Bryan said. “And I knew from the beginning I had to watch my fouls. It was tough in the situation I was in. In the second half, my goal was to not pick up so many fouls quickly and I think I did well in that up until the end where I got fouled out.”
While he did foul out, he managed to get 15 points, six rebounds, four assists, three blocks, one steal and shot for 62% from the field.
At the end of the day, the team dominated and came out with the victory and is in the semi’s at home against Marianapolis Prep School at three o’clock on Saturday, March 2.
Final Score: Saints 80 – Dexter Southfield 64
Player of the Game: Tray Alexander
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