By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer 

Four years ago a group of athletes joined the Bay Path Boys basketball team as first-year players during their freshman year. This winter that team will be taking the court for the last time together as seniors and are ready to unleash their potential and make a run at the State Tournament. 

“This team started playing as freshman four years ago and have been building for this moment,” Bay Path Basketball coach Al Greenough said. “There is a lot of excitement and potential around this year’s team. Although they struggled their first season together they are primed to make a big push this year.” 

While the team has been gearing up for their senior season for the past four years, the Minutemen found themselves being moved up from Division 4 to Division 2 two years ago. According to the MIAA, the move was just because of the size of the school but Greenough doesn’t believe it’s correct.

“We were the only school from the league to move up to Division 2, while everyone else is in Division 3 or 4,” the Bay Path coach said. “We’re stuck in a place that we don’t belong, but we’re rolling with the punches. It’s going to be a difficult schedule but we’re a talented team and we are confident that we can compete with anybody.”

This year’s squad will consist of eight seniors and a handful of juniors who have joined the varsity team over the past few seasons. A lot of them played in the Auburn Summer League in addition to playing for an AAU team this fall to prepare for the season.

Senior Peter Barbale, a 6’ 3” point guard, will basically have the Minutemen’s offense run through him. Facing double and triple team’s on a regular basis the remainder of the team is going to have to adjust and step their game up when the ball is not in his hands. 

 “We are definitely a better team when he has the ball as he is like a coach on the court, which is a rare thing,” Greenough said. “He has great intuition, the ability to break the opposition down to get the team moving while also being able to score. Last year he averaged 15 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists per game.”

Greenough went on to state that he also has the ability to get into the lane and draw the defense toward him and then find the open guy. However, while the offense will start with Barbale the rest of the team understands that they all need to step up their game when he’s covered.

“We have a lot of great shooters on this team,” the coach said. “These kids are confident every time that we bring the ball down the court that someone is going to get a good shot while not turning the ball over,”

Seniors Dale Nussey, Ed Simon and Greg Downie, in addition to junior Luke Smolski are all offensive players that have developed into defense players as well. Coach Greenough and his players pride themselves on their defense. Bay Path plays old school and definitely believes that defense wins games and championships. The squad likes to create turnovers using half and full court pressure, depending on the opposition and situation. 

“With all the double and triple teaming of Peter, we need to be able to move the ball into the open court and transition,” Greenough said. “When the opposition scores we want to quickly inbound the ball and get it down court.”

Downie is a percentage shooter from the outside and works well with Barbale, while Smolski is a spot up outside shooter with Nussey and Simon slashing through the lane and penetrating to the basket. The Minutemen are a well-rounded squad that on any given night a different athlete could be the team’s top scorer. While Bay Path has numerous weapons that can take charge on any night, the coach finds that the team plays better when they play together. There is no need to rush and take that first shot; they have the potential to move the ball around making it much more difficult to defend. 

Coming into the season, Greenough is hoping that the team reaches its full potential and can compete for the Colonial League title despite all the talented teams playing.  He is also looking to qualify for the prestigious Clark Tournament, Central Mass Tournament and then the State Vocational Tournament.

In order to achieve all of the above Bay Path will have to get through a tough non-league schedule that includes the likes of Worcester South, a Division 1 team; St Paul’s at the Auburn Christmas Tournament and North Attleboro, a division 2 team that they will be squaring off against for the first time. And although the schedule looks daunting, Greenough is quite confident in his players.

Another starter the Bay Path coach will be relying on is 6’ 5” Corey Scovil, who gives the Minutemen a presence low in the paint. During the second half of the season last year the big man averaged a double / double over the second half of the season, so the coach wants to get him involved right away, getting him as many touches as possible. 

In addition to Scovil and the rest of the starters Greenough will be looking to Zack Moody and Elias Vega, both great defensive players who will also bring forth an existence on the offense. Moody will be looked upon as a top scorer, while Vega, the back-up point guard, will be looked upon to continue his havoc- wreaking ways on the opposition’s guard.

“We truly have 10 kids, each of whom could start on any given night depending on the matchup,” the coach said. “They all work extremely hard and could get the nod during any game.”

Two years ago playing in Division 4, Bay Path went 13-6, after being moved up to division 2 last season the Minutemen went 11-8 to earn themselves a spot in the tournament. Greenough believes that year’s squad was one of the best teams he’s had at Bay Path and is looking forward to seeing what they can accomplish this year, their fourth and final together for many of them.