Boys Basketball: GMHS, EGHS to Compete at Top of NCCC

The Enfield High boys basketball team, which returns five starters from last year’s North Central Connecticut Conference championship team, figures to be the prohibitive favorite in the league this season.

“[Enfield] returns everybody and they went to the state Class M semifinals,” Granby Memorial High head coach Wally Hansen said. “They’re really good. Then after that, it’s up in the air. It’s going to take a really good ball game to beat an Enfield team but after that, there’s a lot of teams in the league that are equal.”

(three returning starters from last year’s 13-10 team) and (four returning starters from last year’s 12-10 team) at the top of that list.The following are previews of the boys basketball teams in Granby and East Granby.

East Granby High Crusaders (Head coach: Jeff Moger, fourth year. Last year’s record: 12-12, fifth in the NCCC, lost in the first round of the state Class S tournament.)

Having lost just two players - one starter and one off the bench - from last year’s squad, the Crusaders are looking to build off a 12-8 regular season in 2010-11.

“Expectations are much higher this year,” Moger said. “This is my fourth year here in East Granby and this is the first year that we’ve had expectations of higher than just getting [state tournament qualifying] eight wins. I hope we get eight wins, I hope we get 12 wins and if we get more, that will be great.”

Leading the way will be the Crusaders’ two starting guards in All-NCCC shooting guard Ryan Aeschliman (team-high 16 ppg) and junior Noah Fersch, a point guard who had the odd distinction of leading the team in assists and rebounding last year.

The front court will be led by 6-5 senior center Kyle Bowers (“He’s a good defender and hopefully he will give us a little more numbers in rebounds,” Moger said), returning starting swing man Brian Watterlond and junior interior player Ray Marek, who started several games last year.

“We come back with some experience and a little more depth than last year,” Moger said. “We’re a little bit older, a little bit deeper. I think our bench is going to be deeper than we were last year. I hope not to be quite so exhausted as we were at the end of last season. I’ve got a couple of sophomores off the bench, a couple of juniors off the bench.”

Hansen said that East Granby would be “sneaky good” because of their two experienced guards.

The NCCC has added SMSA to its schedule, which, according to Moger, will make the league even more challenging.

“They’re going to be tough in basketball, that’s for sure,” Moger said. “But we come back with some experience and we had a good start to the preseason and placed some Class L schools and we held our own.”

East Granby opens the season at home against Bolton at 7 p.m.

Granby Memorial High Bears (Head coach: Walter Hansen, sixth year. Last year’s reacord: 13-10, third in NCCC, lost in the first round of the state Class M tournament.)

All-NCCC senior swing man Nick Mazzotta (10.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.5 apg), junior swing man Carlin Champion (6.9 ppg, 4 rpg, 2.6 apg) and junior point guard Mike Noyes (5.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg) return to a team that has aspirations of competing at the top of the NCCC and win a couple of games in the state Class M tournament.

“I’d like to be top two or three in the conference. Win a game or two in Class M, maybe get to a quarterfinal,” Hansen said. “Class M is weird this year. There’s some good schools in Class M, but you could win some games in Class M. Winning 14 or 15 games, getting to the state tournament, doing well in the NCCC tournament is always our goal. That’s what has to be our attitude.”

To improve on last year, the team will have to cope with the loss of six players from last year, including starters Sean Witte-Meredith, the leading shot blocker, and captain Mike Reid, who led the team in grit.

Hansen said that he would be counting on 6-3 starting center Curt Field to clog the middle for the Bears, while other players would have to step up to provide some depth to the starters.

Granby Memorial opens the season tonight at home against University at 7 p.m.

Correction: the original post stated that Mike Noyes and Carlin Champion are seniors. They are juniors.