GEORGETOWN — Right now, if you were to place odds on who will lead the Georgetown boys basketball team in scoring this winter, any one of 10 players could be seen as the favorite.
Ask any Royal, though, and their response will probably all be the same.
“Who cares?”
Because, truly, nobody on this team does.
There have long been signs that this Georgetown roster could be something special, and so far through three games, that’s proving itself to be true. On Friday night, the Royals earned their third straight blowout victory to open the season, shaking off a slow start to eventually race past visiting Amesbury, 68-41. They’ve now won their three games by an average of 32.3 points, and have very much looked like a juggernaut that can make some serious noise at the state level this year in the process.
And every day that passes, the Royals believe it more and more, too.
“Personally, I think we can win it all,” said senior Brady Kent. “We’ve got a lot of seniors who have been doing it for awhile. So, we just feel like we have a great team.”
But in Georgetown’s case, the late-great Brad Delp may have sung it best:
“It’s more than a feeling.”
Against Rockport in their opener, senior Marcos Yones (a Daily News All-Star back in 2022-23) led the Royals with 16 points. Then against Essex Tech, it was returning Daily News All-Star senior Jalen Andujar leading the way with 11 points. On Friday night it was junior guard Brayan Perez out in front with 12 points, but another returning Daily News All-Star in junior guard Brendan Loewen was right behind with 11.
Then there’s senior captain Jack Duggan (9.4 ppg, 40 3s last year).
…And senior forward John Alcantara.
…And Kent himself who’s a sharpshooter (7.3 ppg, 43 3s).
…And junior guard Irvin Zapata (18 3s).
…And sophomore forward Jomar Terrero (5.9 ppg).
Are you starting to get the picture?
The Royals just come at you in waves, to the point were “hockey line shifts” are a normal substitution pattern. Even the guys rounding out the roster like Ismael Guzman, Tony Tavares, Ryan Skahan, Aleks Dimov, Rayner Hernandez and Gio Goncalves are getting extended playing time — and by extension, confidence — at the end of these blowouts.
“I feel like we have the potential to be a really good team this year,” said Andujar. “We’ve just got to do all of the little things to get there.”
So far, the Royals are already doing a bunch of those little things.
When they’re on, it’s abundantly clear to see how connected these Royals are.
They forced 27 turnovers during that opening game against Rockport, then locked in defensively on Friday to hold a much-improved Amesbury team to single digits over the final three quarters. That defensive intensity — helped by the fresh legs that keep getting subbed in — leads to plenty of transtion baskets by the athletic finishers on the team. But when the Royals do have to execute in their halfcourt offense, the ball never stops moving from Terrero, Yones and Andujar down in the post, to the shooters on the perimeter in Duggan, Kent, Andujar, Loewen, Perez and Zapata.
Nobody is ever afraid to make the extra pass.
And in total, eight different Georgetown players hit a 3 during Friday’s win.
“Personally, I think this team is very special,” said Loewen. “We’re very unselfish across the board, and we love playing together. We all get along great, we all hang out off the basketball court. So, we’re not just a basketball team, we’re family on and off the court. And playing with that bond is dangerous. That unselfishness is there and everyone knows their role. Nobody is above the team.”
That certainly shows.
Friday night was a good test for both teams, and Amesbury (3-2) shouldn’t be too dissapointed with the loss. Junior guard Justin Dube, a returning Daily News All-Star, hit a pair of tough buckets early on, and 3s from fellow juniors Parker DeLong and Ollie Peters helped the Redhawks race out to a 9-2 lead. Senior John Adams finished with 9 points, but overall the Redhawks still have a ton of youth on the court with more juniors in Joe Celia and Chase Linsey in the rotation, along with sophomores Connor Mazzaglia and Trey Sullivan.
This core, however, has been growing together for the past few years.
And each year, they’ve gotten better.
“We’re fine,” said Amesbury coach Tom Comeau. “We’re working hard and we’re getting better. When we started the season, our goal was to make the tournament and to continue to make some noise in the league. Tonight doesn’t stop that.”
But when Georgetown locked in defensively to start the second quarter, the game changed quickly.
Duggan hit a 3 followed by a Loewen transition layup, and a bucket at the buzzer from Terrero put the Royals up 34-25 at halftime. Quick 3s from Duggan, Alcantara, Perez and Zapata to start the third quarter, along with another basket from Terrero, and the lead quickly ballooned up to 20 at 52-32.
“Our defense is what fuels us,” said Loewen.
Added Kent: “It starts with defense 100%. The defense just makes the offense so much more easy.”
After that output, the reserves basically handled the entire fourth quarter.
Which, for Georgetown, doesn’t mean all that much of a drop in production.
“(Georgetown) is a very good team,” said Comeau. “Well-disciplined, and the way they move the basketball, they’re tough. Then when they’re making their 3s, they’re a tough team to beat. Just very disciplined and they work extremely hard.”
Georgetown 68, Amesbury 41
Amesbury (41): Connor Mazzaglia 0-0-0, Justin Dube 4-0-9, Parker DeLong 3-1-6, Ollie Peters 3-2-8, Trey Sullivan 3-0-6, Joe Celia 0-0-0, Noah Snyder 1-0-2, Ryan Baker 0-0-0, Chase Linsey 0-0-0, Noah Shoukimas 0-0-0, John Taber 0-1-1, John Adams 3-0-9. Totals 17-4-41
Georgetown (68): Jomar Terrero 3-2-8, Brady Kent 1-0-3, Brendan Loewen 4-2-11, Jalen Andujar 3-0-7, John Alcantara 2-2-7, Irvin Zapata 1-0-3, Marcos Yones 1-0-2, Jack Duggan 3-0-9, Brayan Perez 4-3-12, Gio Goncalves 2-0-5, Aleks Dimov 1-0-2, Tony Tavares 0-0-0, Ryan Skahan 0-0-0. Totals 25-9-68
3-pointers: G — Duggan 3, Kent, Loewen, Andujar, Alcantara, Zapata, Perez, Goncalves; A — Adams 3, Dube, DeLong
Amesbury (3-2): 17 8 7 9 — 41
Georgetown (3-0): 18 16 18 16 — 68