By Adam Peng ’17, Sports Editor
Over winter break, the Cincinnati Country Day boys’ varsity basketball team traveled to South Carolina to attend the Bobcat Classic Tournament. They played at a very high level in their three games outside the state. Although losing two of them, the team gained experience and showed toughness against strong teams from bigger schools.
Of the tournament, Coach Greg Ross commented, “It is a tradition for my coaching that every two or three years our team goes outside the state to play matches against teams from other parts of the country. What was great about the journey was that our players had time to do something outside basketball, and that really bonded our team together. They were even able to have play beach football and have fun in the sea when it was 75 degrees in South Carolina and only about 40 degrees in Cincinnati, which was amazing.” Apparently, spending holiday spare time together improved the team’s camaraderie. When I asked varsity players about things they did other than basketball, playing beach football and going shopping were highlights for everyone.
On the court, Country Day lost to Bluffton High school 44-62 on the first day of their tournament. “It is a big school in South Carolina with around 2,000 students,” Coach Ross said, “and they have two players who were planning to play college basketball.” This setback did not crush the team. They won 59-48 in their second tournament game against Southpoint, another big school from South Carolina. The team regained confidence, and every player was filled with excitement as they pulled out a close win. In their last game, they lost 44-52 against Springboro, a team from Ohio. “It was a close game, we were tied when there were three minutes left, and it is interesting when two teams from Ohio traveled all the way to South Carolina to play,” Coach Ross commented. “We have beaten them a few times. I am sure we can beat them again,” Clyde Bennett ‘17 said.
Coach Ross never stopped complimenting his players when talking about his team, saying, “Sean O’Brien ‘16 and Schuyler Snell ‘16 are the best players on the team. Sean is the captain and Schuyler was named as one of the players on the MVC All Conference Team.” When asked about bench players, he added, “We lost Clyde Bennett after a few games at the start of the season. He was the leading scorer on the team, but Trey Smith, a sophomore, stood up in Clyde’s position while he’s injured.” Bennett agreed with Coach Ross: “I also pass, but I love scoring, because you get scores to win, you know. I was really disappointed when I got injured, but Trey did a great job. He is a shooter, but he can do other things, too.”
About his expectations for the rest of the year, Coach Ross said, “winter sports season is the longest season, you know. I have been very thankful that with the help of Coach Waite, this team has been really coachable. It is a coachable team. Players come every day with good attitudes, try to get better, and work hard. I am very proud of all their effort and I am really happy to see their brotherhood building up. Younger players are protected under seniors’ wings. With the last few games in the season, our goal is to win the MVC championship, as we did it last year, and I hope we can do it again.”
As the winter sports season will soon come to an end, we sincerely hope their goals are achieved. The next game for the boys’ basketball team will be against St. Bernard−Elmwood Place at home on Jan. 19th. Come out and support the team!
