December 17, 2024 – Story and photos by Joshua Ross
As crazy as it sounds, Coach Bob Kniffen is really happy with his team’s performance in their season opening loss to Catholic Memorial on Sunday. Despite the 18 point defeat against last year’s second ranked team in Division 1, the boys gave their coach and fans a preview of what could be this season.
Returning only four seniors this year (five in all), the Harbormen will be “one of the youngest teams” Kniffen ever coached, which means opportunities for many of them. Each of the first few games will give almost everyone a chance to make an impact and contribute to the team.
Senior captains Alex Levy and Matty Cummings will be joined by fellow seniors Jay Nimboorkar, Bradley Wheeler and John Manning. If Sunday’s game is any indication, juniors Gabe Tesler and Jake Varholak, and sophomores Cole Palek and JT Reale will play big roles in the coming weeks.
With many unknowns for Hingham, Kniffen wasn’t even paying attention to the score in the opener.
“First game, opening night, a lot of guys with their first varsity experience and we have a young team – we weren’t even looking at the scoreboard,” explains Kniffen after the game. “The level of compete we showed tonight says a lot about us. I told them in the locker room that it was their opportunity to show their brand of basketball, the style they were going to be playing, and the goal is for people who came out to watch you today to say they want to come back and see you guys play. And I think they did that.”
What should be encouraging for Kniffen is the level of compete the boys displayed on Sunday. At one point, they were down by 30+ points late in the second half. They never gave up playing and reduced Catholic Memorial’s lead by 15 points in a relatively short about of time. A few more made free throws and layups throughout the game and it easily could have been a 10 point game against one of the best teams in the state.
“(I like) how they competed for 32 minutes,” he went on to say. “We were up, we were down, and it was just that consistency that we need. Sometimes that’s hard to get from teams, but with the leadership that we have and the guys we that we have I am confident will get that consistency.”
Based on Sunday’s game, we should see most of the 12 man roster on the court, and producing, this season. Eight of the 12 players scored against CM and everyone got in. Palek and Tesler led the scoring for the Harbormen with 14 points each. Wheeler, coming off the bench, hit two 3-pointers late in the game, helping Hingham end the game with some momentum going into tonight’s game at Pembroke.
“Jake Varholak running the point today was a tremendous leader for us on the floor with the ball in his hands the majority of the time. He rebounded well and defended phenomenally. He was a horse for us today. Gabe Tesler, second half rebounding was awesome. That was the challenge at halftime. They were getting us on the boards in the first half and he stepped up for us on the boards in the second half. He hit some shots and had a block in transition, which was great. We had a few of those and that’s the type of team we are and are going to be and I think it’s going to be a fun team to watch.
“We have a 12-man roster. We went 10 deep pretty quick. Even at the end, we had guys the last four minutes of the game and I didn’t feel like it was different than the first four. I think that’s an important ingredient to be a successful team. Just having that depth, for practice purposes if nothing else, that they’re competing and pushing each other, and they showed that today.”
Now that the first one is out of the way, and hopefully with the rust and nerves gone, the Harbormen will dive into Patriot League play with Pembroke and at Marshfield on Friday before heading to play in the annual Skip Karam Holiday Tournament in Fall River over the break. The boys next home game is on 12/30 vs Nauset Regional at 1::30pm.