The ending was not one that Dan Holbrook (below) and his University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth teammates had anticipated.
Watching the Rhode Island College men's basketball team cut down the nets after beating the host Corsairs, 55-52, in the Little East Conference final, was "an embarassment," according to Holbrook.
The loss, however, didn't end the season for UMass-Dartmouth. The NCAA rewarded UMass for its 25-3 record with an at-large bid, and a first-round bye, in the Division 3 tournament. The Corsairs were scheduled to host a first-round game last night.
After the NCAA bid was extended, coach Brian Baptiste asked Holbrook, his senior center from Lexington, and fellow cocaptain Reece Freeman to restring the nets.
"Watching Rhode Island celebrate and cut down the nets on our home court really hurt," said Holbrook. "We wanted to get the automatic NCAA bid by winning the playoffs. We wanted it so bad because coach put so much effort into getting us to that point. But we have another chance and I told [Baptiste] that we'd hang up the nets but that it would be us cutting them down in a couple of weeks."
No one played a bigger role in the Corsairs' flight to the tournament than Holbrook.
The 6-foot-5-inch, 240-pound center started 27 of the team's 28 games, averaging 16.4 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, both team highs. He led the team in points (458), rebounds (306), shooting percentage (.556), and minutes played (32 per game). Throw in 78 assists, 30 steals, and 16 blocks, and those numbers add up to LEC Player of the Year honors, which he was awarded last week.
UMass won its first 20 games and was the nation's last unbeaten Division 3 team before losing back-to-back games to Keene State (92-85 in overtime) and Rhode Island College (79-72). Holbrook couldn't be faulted in either loss. He posted a dozen points and 17 rebounds against Keene and delivered a 23-point, 17-rebound effort against Rhode Island College.
Those were just two of the 14 double-doubles he posted during the season. He torched UMass-Boston for a season-high 32 points and had a season-best 19-rebound effort against Framingham State. All this while usually being double-teamed.
"Being double-teamed just opened up more and more opportunities for his teammates," said Baptiste. "He has good foot speed for a big man. His post moves are very unconventional and throw his opponents off guard. His biggest strength, though, is his work ethic. He simply outworks people. He is all about hard work. He plays with a great deal of emotion."
Holbrook and Freeman, as cocaptains, realized that this team was special early on, even though there was a new mix of players.
"At the beginning of the season, we had basically a new team," said Holbrook.
"Our goal was to make everyone feel comfortable by the time the season began. So, we started practices at 6 a.m. in the preseason to build chemistry and to get to know each other. A lot of our success was based on hard work. I think the teams of the past few years had similar seasons, but really feel this team went deeper because of team camaraderie. We are a very close team."
Track and field Bromfield's Emily Jones wrapped up her season in grand style with a meet record 10 minutes 33.99 seconds clocking in the 2-mile. The week before, Jones set the state record, and her time at the New Englands was the fastest in the country this year. Jones will not race in the high school nationals, instead choosing to rest for the outdoor campaign.
Pinkerton (N.H.) senior Bree Robinson soared 18 feet 2.5 inches to win the long jump, easily beating her closest competitor by more than 3 inches.
The Woburn quartet of Brian Smith, Dave Clark, Chris Martin, and Matt Pereira won the boys' 4-by-200 relay.
Merrimack, N.H.'s foursome of Alex Beaulieu, William Godfrey, Steve Harshman, and Brian Paison won the boys' 4-by-800 relay.
Wrestling Timberlane (N.H.) had only one individual champ (heavyweight Brian Nicoli), but had loads of depth to ring up 73 points and claim its sixth team title, matching Mount Anthony of Vermont, as the most in New England history. Lowell is next with five.
Other champions included Brandon Gauthier of Lowell (112 pounds), Kenny Smith of Billerica (119), Trevor Dearden of Salem, N.H. (125), John Sughrue of Methuen (130), Tim Rich of Chelmsford (135), and Evan Connors of Lowell (140). Dearden, who pinned his opponent with 51 seconds left in the first period, was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler.
Assumption named Tewksbury native Adam Fuller to lead its fortunes, and Saint Anselm tapped Patrick Murphy, who last year coached at Dracut.
Fuller has been the special teams coordinator and linebacker coach at the University of Richmond the past three seasons and becomes the fourth coach since Assumption elevated its program to varsity status in 1988.
He played football at Tewksbury and Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.
His NE-10 debut will come against Sacred Heart on Aug. 30.
Murphy arrives at St. Anselm with a wealth of experience in the college and high school ranks. He previously served as an assistant at Harvard and before that at Bryant and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Murphy played fullback, tight end, and linebacker at Northeastern, from which he received a degree in criminal justice in 1966. He coached at Dracut for 20 years. Murphy lives in Shirley.
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