Nashoba Tech boys enjoying 'dream season'

WESTFORD -- At the beginning of this season, Nashoba Tech boys' basketball coach Rob Beaudette and his assistant coaches challenged their team: If they won 16 games, they could shave their coaches' heads at center court.

Beaudette figured his hair was safe. Two years ago, the Vikings couldn't muster one win, and stumbled through an ugly 0-19 season. Last year, there was improvement, but the team still went 5-15 -- a far cry from the 16-4 it would take to bust out the clippers.

"I gave them a goal . . . thinking it was kind of unrealistic," Beaudette said Tuesday afternoon, with his team sitting on 15 wins. "Now, it's pretty realistic."

Three hours later, amid a swarm of screaming Nashoba Tech fans, Beaudette's players went to work on their smiling coach's head. The Vikings had just completed a clean, smart, 65-48 win over Montachusett Tech, clinching at least a share of the Colonial Athletic League title and raising their record to 16-1. The victory was their 14th straight, and it brought their mark in conference play to 11-0.

"It's like a dream season that anyone would like to have," said senior captain Jonny Doster, who labored through the winless campaign two years ago. "There's very few teams that can have the privilege of having a season like this."

A few of the Vikings certainly have paid their dues. During the cursed 2004-'05 season, the stars aligned in the wrong places for the team. There wasn't much leadership, and many of the players were young and inexperienced. The coach didn't push the players in practice, so they weren't conditioned well enough for games.

"It really was tough coming to practice," said senior captain Josh Coole. "We didn't do much. Not everyone wanted to play. No one really wanted to win."

That meant that in most games they were run right out of the building. Nashoba Tech's team had been through other down years, but they always managed to beat one opponent -- Essex Aggie. That year, even the Rams were able to pin down the Vikings.

"You don't want to go in with a losing attitude," Doster said. "But you knew what the outcome would end up being."

Beaudette -- at the time just 22 years old -- was hired for the 2005-'06 campaign, but it didn't start out perfectly. Already the offensive coordinator for the Vikings' football team, Beaudette had to skip the first week of practice because his football team had qualified for the state Vocational Super Bowl.

But the coach set to work soon after that, instilling his philosophies and working his players hard. He told them that they would never lose a game because they weren't well-conditioned, and sent them off and running. He also stressed teamwork, by taking his team on off-court outings to ensure kids from Lowell and kids from Pepperell would get to know each other and get along. More specifically, he encouraged ball movement, hoping to get all of his players involved in the offense.

It didn't exactly work last season, when junior transfer Alex Damasceno scored more than 40 percent of the team's points during the 5-15 campaign. Beaudette knew he had to change that distribution to be successful, but he set lofty goals for his team: Besides the hair, he told them to aim for a 10-10 season and tournament berth, and, if possible, a league championship.

"I thought we'd be somewhere around the .500 ballpark; maybe a little better, maybe a little worse, but we'd be around there," Beaudette said. "And the league championship was a stretch."

Not anymore. After a loss to Shawsheen in the third game of the season, the Vikings' 14 straight wins included a shocking upset of Worcester Voke, which put them in line for the league crown. Players, coaches, and officials at Nashoba Tech weren't sure when -- or if -- the Vikings had last beaten the perennially powerful Eagles, but they were sure of one thing: The win was a sign of changing times.

Damasceno, now a senior captain, isn't scoring as much, but he's one of four Vikings who average double figures, and the 6-footer has increased his presence at the defensive end and on the boards. He's also one of four Lowell natives in the starting lineup, along with sophomores Willy Luna and Jon Alves -- the team's leading scorers -- and freshman Xavier Canty -- the quick, crafty point guard .

Versatile 6-foot center Daryl Ricard of Westford rounds out the lineup -- and averages a double-double . Beaudette said that every player knows his role, and there have been no problems accepting those roles.

"We're playing more as a team," Damasceno said, "executing our plays better, not turning the ball over as much -- just more organized basketball."

On Tuesday, two things stood out. For one, the Vikings played harassing defense, stealing the ball from Monty Tech on what seemed like every other trip down the floor in the first half.

Also, Beaudette's ball-movement philosophy had clearly set in, as Nashoba Tech whipped the ball around the perimeter, spinning the Bulldogs' defense in circles, and creating open lanes and open looks.

"I knew these guys from around Lowell," Doster said. "There are a lot of street-ball players, and I thought it was going to be a selfish team a little bit, but it's completely not what I thought it was going to be. This team's very unselfish."

The school has responded, showing up in large numbers to support a rare basketball champion.

The basketball team has had blips of success in its past, like a state vocational title in 2003 , two years before the 0-19 season, but often winning is hard to come by at a small vocational school like Nashoba Tech, which has an enrollment of about 600.

"A lot of the sports programs here, there's a lot of effort shown but there isn't a ton of winning seasons," Beaudette said. "So, right now, the faculty, the administration, other coaches, parents, cheerleaders -- they're all trying to get involved."

The team, which has no players with any tournament experience, is now primed for one of the top seeds in the Division 3 bracket in Central Massachusetts. How they respond to being resounding favorites remains to be seen, but it would be hard to bet against them at this point.

That's mainly because of Beaudette, the fresh-faced former quarterback, point guard, and catcher at Tyngsborough High. He also quarterbacked the squad at Nichols College , but has returned home to teach special education at Tyngsborough. Having recently turned 24 , he already has an impressive entry for his coaching resume.

"He just came in and changed the attitude of the team, and now everyone's buying into a system and we're just going by what he does," Doster said. "This is my last year, but I know if these guys listen to the coach that they'll be successful for a long time around here."

Mike Lipka can be reached at mlipka@globe.com.