PEABODY — Peabody’s boys basketball team kicks off its season Friday at home when it welcomes Beverly at 7 p.m. Helmed by coach Thad Broughton, his Tanners are looking to uphold the success they’ve had over the past two years.
“It’s been good,” Broughton said. “We’ve had a good couple weeks of practice. Our first game is Friday, so it’s a really short amount of preparation, but it’s been good because we have a little bit of a mix of veterans and a bit of a mix of new guys. I’m looking forward to it.”
The Tanners graduated four starters from last season’s 19-3 team, including two players who are playing basketball in college: Anthony Forte and Raphel Laurent.
“I’m very proud of those two, who are both playing big minutes in college right now – Raphel Laurent at UMass Boston and Anthony at Endicott. They were the heart-and-soul of the team last year,” Broughton said. “We also lost a couple of other starters in Cam Connolly and Johnny Lucas.”
Peabody brings back a key returning starter, as well as an important role player.
“We have two returners who I think will be leaders for us. Jariel Tolentino is a returning starter. He averaged about seven points per game last year. He’s a phenomenal baseball player and he’s going to really come into his own this year for hoops,” Broughton said. “Then we have Jimmy Festa. He’s a very good football player (Team MVP) and he’s going to man things down low for us. I think we’re going to rely on them, but we also have some newcomers that I think will give us good minutes.”
Captains are Tolentino, Festa, and Noah Crocker, seniors Broughton has praised for their work thus far.
“Those three have been in the program for four years. They’re phenomenal students and great kids. We expect them to set an example on and off the court for the younger guys and they’ve done a phenomenal job so far,” Broughton said.
Broughton acknowledged the success his program has had in recent years. Now, he’s ready for a new challenge of staying atop the Northeastern Conference.
“I think the spot that we’re in, in terms of the league, is a really nice challenge for our group because we had some really good seasons in the league and now, we lost some talented players,” Broughton said. “I think our guys are determined to continue their success and our league is really tough and every night, it’s going to be a battle and a lot of fun. The players are looking forward to it and want to prove some people wrong.”
Though finding a team identity may take a few games, one thing that’s certain is Peabody’s chemistry.
“That’s the No. 1 thing. We have a really nice group of kids who are basically multi-sport athletes and are very good academically. As a coach, when you have a foundation of good kids who are willing to work and listen, I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve done well,” Broughton said. “We’ve also had some talented players. We have some talent this year for sure, and I think that’s where the challenge comes in. Can we replace the phenomenal players that we graduated last year?”
There are three goals for the Tanners this season:
“We try to keep it simple with the goals. We work with goal No. 1, which is to get into the tournament. Then, the second goal is to win the NEC, and then the last goal is the one everybody shoots for and that’s the state championship,” Broughton said. “We have guys that have their smaller individual goals, whether it’s getting into colleges or getting honor roll. We don’t limit it to just basketball. We have our basketball goals, individual goals, and academic goals, too.”
