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GHS Boys Basketball Hopeful For A Return to Postseason

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Members of the Greenwich High School boys basketball team work on drills during Friday's practice. (John Ferris Robben photo)
Members of the Greenwich High School boys basketball team work on drills during Friday’s practice. (John Ferris Robben photo)

 

If you ask senior point guard Henry Golden, there’s something missing inside the Greenwich High School gymnasium.

“There’s no boy’s basketball banner in this gym,” Golden said. “It’s a reminder and a chip on our shoulder at the beginning of every season.”

As a senior, Golden remembers how close (eight points) the Cardinals were to raising an FCIAC championship banner just two seasons ago. In the CIAC class LL tournament, Big Red advanced to the semifinals before falling to Fairfield Prep to end its season.

Now, Golden is one of the team’s four captains, who under second-year coach Patrick Heaton, will try and return to playing in their favorite month of the year.

“I think we’re going to try and be an up-tempo team,” Heaton said. “We want to play quality defense and we want to get out to a good start. Our number one goal is to play in March.”

GHS posted a 7-13 overall record after a getting off to a slow start last season.

The Cardinals return their leading scorer from last year, captain Conor Harkins, who averaged 15.7 points per game and is a threat from long range.

“We’re going to try to outwork and outrun the other team. We feel like we’re in pretty good condition and we’ve got some good depth so we’ll spend some time outrunning people.”

Members of the Greenwich High School boys basketball team work on drills during Friday's practice. (John Ferris Robben photo)
Members of the Greenwich High School boys basketball team work on drills during Friday’s practice. (John Ferris Robben photo)

Heaton wouldn’t categorize his team as a run ‘n gun style of offense, but rather spoke about the need for balance between outside and inside scoring.

“We’ve got to establish that we can score inside,” Heaton said. “Kieran Carroll — another co-captain — averaged nine points per game last year, but there were a couple games where he was up around 20. He could be a consistent scorer for us, and it could definitely take some of the pressure off of Harkins on the outside.”

Helping that balance this year will be captain Mike Gianopoulos, who can handle duties in both the backcourt and front court with his ability to stretch the floor and a sense for rebounding.

“I expect high intensity this year,” Gianopoulos said. “We’re much more experienced this year than we were last year. We have a good backcourt. Defense will be key this year.”

With a sizable senior class, Heaton is pleased with the leadership roles on the team as well the team’s work ethic.

“I always tell the guys, ‘Before you know it, you’re a senior,’” Heaton said. “So far, we have eight of them right now. The seniors have been doing a nice job of showing the young guys about how you have to come to work every day and practice hard. It’s a lot of fun on game days.”

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