LYNN — The last few seasons have been up-and-down ones for the Lynn Classical basketball program. From tournament berths to tough-to-swallow defeats, the Rams have been through it all.
Even with the loss of starting point guard Marvin Avery Jr., who announced his decision to join Austin Prep this past April, his father and head coach Marvin Avery Sr. said, “The expectations are high for Lynn Classical basketball.”
Coach Avery, in his fourth season helming the Rams, comes off an 11-8 season. Classical reached the Division 3 state tournament, but was eliminated by Foxborough, 52-39, in the preliminary round.
“We are going to take it one game at a time, be competitive in our league, and get back to the state tournament and have another great, exciting year,” Avery said.
With a little help from his friends, Avery will look toward some key contributors.
“Kameron Rucker, Deshawn Rucker, D.J. Reynolds,” he said. “Those guys have been with me since they were freshmen. They worked very hard in the offseason and expectations are very high. We are going to pride ourselves on our bench and a very hard-nosed defense.”
The depth doesn’t stop there for the Rams, who hit the hardwood Friday, Dec. 13 against Somerville in regular season game No. 1.
“I’ve got three very good, talented players off the bench, starting with sophomore Darren Baker,” Avery said. “Davonte Taggart, who is a very good sharpshooter and will be a captain this year, Tyler Kelley, and I have a phenomenal junior shotblocker who is 6-foot-5 named Shyheim Babb, who is a very talented, athletic center who can run the floor well – a big-time rebounder and can block some shots.”
And if you ask Avery, he’s always taken pride in one half of the court.
“I took over this program and I always pride myself on defense,” he said. “We have the guys to come off the bench and play defense. We are very talented, so I am looking forward to that and having a great year at Lynn Classical.”
And despite tryouts kicking off Monday, Avery has already liked what he’s seen.
“Our conditioning and our ability to get up and down the court has stood out to me,” he said. “We do what we do best: Press the whole game. I’ve enjoyed how athletic my kids are and how they’ve gotten themselves into great shape and prepared for the season.”
Classical’s first three games are against Somerville, Malden, and Chelsea. The Rams take on traditional archrival Lynn English, helmed by coach Alvin Abreu, on Dec. 20.
“Being a veteran coach, we are just going to take it one game at a time and be very aggressive with our defense,” Avery said. “Know that when Coach Avery gets to the gym, we are going to press hard and get after it.”
Owen Finn is a student at Endicott College studying journalism
