Entering the New Year, the Pioneers have a winning record (3-2) and are playing great basketball picking with wins against Bishop Fenwick, Hamilton-Wenham, and Stoneham. The Pioneers pride themselves on their shooting and defensive effort, which all starts in the practice gym.
“The kids are working hard. They give their best every day,” head coach John Bakopolus said. “They have great attitudes and they want each other to do well.”
When asked if the team has any New Year’s resolutions, Bakopolus mentioned the team just wants to continue to “improve each day”.
“‘Did we get better today?” is a question Bakopolus continues to ask himself and the team.
“We are not really looking ahead, we just go day by day. Get better today and see what happens the next day,” Bakopolus said.
Being an inexperienced team, and young, it’s hard to “simulate” the speed of the game in practice. However, with another year under the team’s belt, the Pioneers are beginning to click.
“All the kids that are playing from last year to this year now understand what it means to be a varsity player,” Bakopolus said. “The results show it. We’ve had five games and competed in all of them.”
One of the Pioneers’ strengths is their basketball IQ. In four of the five Pioneers’ games, they’ve all come down to the end. Bakopolus mentioned his squad plays with “good instincts” and “good understanding in certain situations.”
Though Lynnfield has started the season well, Bakopolus knows there are some areas the team needs to continue to work on. The Pioneers are making eight threes a game, but when the shots are not falling, the Pioneers tend to “get sped up.”
“Making sure we remain poised [when shots are not falling]. Sometimes, we panic a little bit and that is something we are trying to get better at,” Bakopolus said.
On days when shots aren’t falling, one thing Lynnfield fans can lean back on is the team’s commitment.
“So far, we’ve had great effort [and] great energy. I think if we continue to have that, then the results will be positive,” Bakopolus said.
The Pioneers are back in action Tuesday against Essex Tech with a 6:30 p.m. tip-off in Lynnfield.
