Sharon Basketball Racing to State Title Endpoint

Note: Interviews for this article were conducted prior to Sharon’s first two games of the season, wins in Stoughton and at home vs. Foxboro.

Featuring arguably the premier backcourt duo in Massachusetts in senior captains Brian Mukasa and James Fritzson, the Sharon High boys basketball team has unilaterally expressed a single expectation for the 2013-14 season: to cut down the nets at TD Garden in March as the Division II State Champions.

“Anything short of a state championship is a failure,” said senior captain Erik Kushner. “Everybody is on that same page; everybody has the same goal. We’re just going to work towards it. Every single day, just try to raise the banner.”

Mukasa said, “I’m excited. I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen in the early going. I think as we continue to progress at the rate necessary, we’ll be one of the best teams around.”

Mukasa, who was named to multiple All-State teams last year, and Fritzson, an All-Hockomock League selection, are the two returning starters from a team that was a few breaks away from a Div. II South Sectional appearance. Other varsity players will fill larger roles than a year ago while several talented sophomores have established themselves as worthy contributors.

“I think it’s going to be a great year,” said Kushner. “We’ve got a lot of good players. A lot of guys returning - tons of experience on this team - and also a lot of young talent coming up.”

Head Coach Bruce Jackman says that the loss of last year’s senior captains, Ian Beach and Kevin Bartas, will be “enormous”, both leadership-wise and athletically as “tweeners” who could play multiple positions effectively. “We can’t seem to find that mix right now,” Jackman said.

The coach says that both the squad’s offense and defense will be entirely different from those of last year in attempts to fill those holes. “Luckily, Brian and Jimmy, and some of the other guards, have been able to make up for it in a different way.

“I think the potential is different. We don’t have certain athletes in certain positions that we had last year, but we have certain athletes in other positions who are better than they were last year. It’s a different situation,” Jackman said.

Sharon plans to use a four-guard offense as its base attack, occasionally playing five guards at a single time. Necessitated by the Eagles’ depth at the position and relative dearth of post players, the up-tempo style of play figures to be exciting for both players and fans.

Mukasa, a point guard, said, “It’s fun. We’re going to play fast. There are going to be a lot of transition opportunities. Defensively, we’re still working it out, but we’ll be good.”

Fritzson says that the offense allows for more isolation opportunities, which he says suits his game well. “I can get by my defender spread out. It’s just fluid. I’m a scorer, and it gives me a lot of chances to score, a variety of different ways,” said the shooting guard.

Fritzson and Mukasa found a comfort zone last season playing with one another, sparking the Eagles’ offense to score 78+ points in each of their three playoff games. In the sectional semifinal game vs. Scituate, a heartbreaking 83-79 defeat, Fritzson delivered 34 points in a mammoth performance, while Mukasa tallied 20.

Kushner says that he thinks the duo will be “unstoppable” this season. With both players capable of carrying the team for stretches, each says that maximizing their abilities concurrently will require the same effort this season from both parties.

Mukasa said, “We just need to continue to, definitely, work together, as opposed to me trying to compete with him for press or anything like that. If we do that - the better we get at it, we’re just going to be that much more dangerous.” Fritzson added, “I think we’re the two best guards in the MIAA, so if we just work together, we’ll be good.”

Jackman described Mukasa and Fritzson’s on-court relationship as “symbiotic”, saying that each always knows where the other is on the floor. “I think that they’re going to play extremely well together. They’re working very well.”

Jackman says that two questions are when one of them is covered by a shutdown guard, can the other compensate; and if a team has two shutdown guards, can others carry the scoring load?

The coach says that he thinks both answers will be yes. “We’ve got some kids who can score. [Sophomore guard] Matt Lowerre has shown some real flashes, [sophomore guard] Jordan Mello-Klein, [senior guard] Ade [Bright] – I think we’re going to be OK along that line,” Jackman said.

“Guys have been stepping up,” Kushner said. “They’ve been playing well, working their butts off. We’re just going to keep getting better day by day, and just play one game at a time.”

Among post players, Kushner says that senior center Earl Dessesaure, playing in his first full year on varsity, will be a factor in the paint. “Earl has come strides. He’s really gotten so much better,” said Kushner, a forward/center.

In addition to Dessesaure’s emergence, Jackman said, “Kush has been Kush. [Junior] Hunter [Prange] has played better than I thought he was capable of playing at this point in time; I have some real confidence in him. We have a rotation of three right now; if they can continue to show that, I think that we’re going to be okay.”

Kushner says that the guards will be expected to contribute to the rebounding effort with only one big man on the floor. “Our rebounding has gotten a lot better. We had some trouble with it at first, but we’ve been working on it constantly in practice. Every single day, we’ve been getting better at it. I think we’re at a point where we really want to be,” Kushner said.

On the defensive side, Jackman says that he had hoped the team could play more full-court, swarming presses at this point. “We’re not showing that we are capable of playing the aggressive defenses we should be capable. These kids – Jimmy, Brian, Ade – should be able to play better defense than they have shown.

“I think that we’re going to be in a situation where we’re going to score high 60s-low 70s [points] pretty much every game. But there are going to be those nights where we don’t do that, and if we don’t play defense, those are going to be the nights where we’re going to lose. If we don’t play defense, we’re going nowhere,” Jackman added.

The coach added that that may be a result of the team implementing many new schemes on offense, taking time from learning the defensive sets. In the interim, he says that Sharon will play “junk” zone defenses.

Mukasa says that he believes that the defense will develop consistency as the players become accustomed to their roles in the schemes. “Especially the younger guys are still learning our zone and man-to-man principles. But we’ll be fine. I’m very confident,” he said.

“I think we have improved on defense, even though there’s a lot more to go,” Fritzson said. “I think our help defense is really, really good, and we have a lot of shot-blockers, so I think we can protect the rim. We’ve just got to play good perimeter defense.”

Fritzson says that in practices, he has been impressed with sophomore Tyler Smith’s effort on defense. “Tyler Smith has really caught my eye. He plays really hard on defense. He needs to work on offense a little, because he just got out of football, but he really plays hard. I like the way he plays,” Fritzson said.

Kushner says that he still has nightmares of the Scituate playoff loss, and that the familiarity of playing deep into the postseason will serve the 2013-14 Eagles team well as it aims for another extended playoff appearance.

“We’ve still got a chip on our shoulders from the Scituate game. We were that close to going to the South Finals. You’ve just got to move on, and hopefully, we can use that playoff experience moving forward and transition it into this year,” Kushner said.

As for how he feels the team can fare in the Hockomock League this season, Mukasa said, referring to the league regular season and state tournament, “We should win this whole thing. I really don’t have any elaboration on that one. I really have two goals: win Hock and States.”

Fritzson says that the entire squad is united in their belief on those fronts. “I think it’s going to be a big one [season] for us. We have a really good chance to win the state championship. It’s a great team overall. We really think we can do it. The whole team is in it to win it.”

Jackman says that he is pleased that the team has set lofty, yet realistic, expectations for the season. “If all things come together and we do things the way we’re capable of, I think all three of those goals [winning the Hockomock, Davenport, and state title] are highly attainable. Other teams can’t say that. We have the pieces to the puzzle. We just have to put the puzzle together.”

Kushner said of the team’s goals, “State championship. That’s it, no doubt, nothing else - state championship.  We’ll be playing in the Garden in March, and you’ll see a banner up on the [Eagle Gymnasium] wall.”