(Photo courtesy Law Boys Basketball)
By Ella Franzman – Editor-In-Chief
The Jonathan Law boys basketball team recently wrapped up their winter season.
The team was led by three captains: Tanner Matchett, Cam Upchurch and Liam Valvo. While two of the captains are seniors, Upchurch, a junior, is excited to return to the court for one more season with the Lawmen.
“There isn’t anything I wish I could have done differently this season,” Upchurch said. “Although we didn’t have the outcome we wanted and the success we wanted, I don’t look back and regret the decisions in the past because I live a no regrets lifestyle.”
Upchurch has been a starter for all three seasons and was a key part to the team this year. The Lawmen featured a lot of new faces on the court this season as they had to replace eight seniors from last year’s team.
“Adjusting was hard because we lost our main scorers and big men so we had to have a whole new plan of going about things and that was to use our speed to our advantage,” senior Derek Rainey said. “I feel like at first we did not adjust to using our speed well but after a couple games have gone by we started to get the hang of it and adjusted much better.”
Law, who finished the year 4-16, is now looking forward to growing their program and hoping that the underclassmen will be able to step in and fill these roles as kids continue to graduate the team.
“Losing talent is difficult every year,” head coach Jamie Anderson said. “This year we are losing nine seniors as well.”
Along with Rainey, Matchett, and Valvo, the team will be losing seniors Amedues Betancourt, Bobby Black, Chris DeProfio, Michael Nieder, Patrick Paules-Harrold and Derek Wilder.
“I’m going to miss the culture of the team, and mostly the relationships I built with my teammates and my coaches,” Valvo said.
Valvo, who injured his shoulder in the beginning of the season during a scrimmage, was unable to play in most games this year. Despite not being fully healed Valvo saw a few minutes on senior night when the team defeated Career Magnet 62-49.
“The juniors, sophomores and freshmen have a lot of talent and are ready to work,” Rainey said. “They are good listeners and playmakers and will be fun to watch.”
The program had a lot of underclassmen come out for the team this year and are excited for them to grow.
“An underclassman that stepped up was Matt Witteman, a few games into the season he was brought up to varsity and eventually started which helped contribute a lot to the squad,” Upchurch said.
Witteman was excited to help out the team when he got told to sit on the varsity bench and then got told he would soon be starting for the team.
“Our underclassmen made some really good strides this year,” Anderson said. “We knew there were going to be some mistakes and growing pains but they learned a lot and got very valuable experience.”
The team is excited to work together in the offseason, as the CIAC has now allowed for teams to practice together for up to four hours a week once the final spring championship games have concluded.
“I’m going to miss the culture of law basketball for sure, it feels like a family – from the coaches, to teammates, to the supporters,” Matchett said. “It was competitive and fun at the same time and definitely has been the highlight of my high school experience.”