Brown nears 1,000 plateau.

Byline: Kevin O'Malley

COLUMN: Boys' basketball

After scoring 772 points in two years at Dorchester High, junior Keith Brown is poised to join George Jordan as the second Marlboro Panther to reach the 1,000-point plateau this season.

Brown is 34 points shy of the milestone heading into tonight's Mid-Wach B battle with Quabbin.

"He's been a great addition. He's a natural scorer," Marlboro head coach Ilya Nicholas said. "He was one of the top scorers in the state last year. He's very athletic. He's had some very good games for us."

Brown is averaging 18 points a game, good enough for second in the league, trailing only his teammate Jordan, who leads the league with a 22.1-ppg average.

"He's still learning to adjust to the new school and the new league," said Nicholas. "The best part about him, though, is he is all about the team. He doesn't care how many points he scores, all he cares about is the success of the team and his teammates."

The Panthers have enjoyed plenty of success this season, sporting an 8-2 record with losses only to Division 1 powers St. John's and Wachusett, while remaining undefeated in league play as they attempt to defend last year's Mid-Wach B title.

The Panthers have a plethora of offensive weapons. Andre Beauchamp is among the league leaders with a 14-ppg game average, and point guard Connor Flynn possesses a deadly outside shot.

"We have a very deep group of guys," added Nicholas. "We have a veteran group and we keep getting better."

Marlboro is just two wins away from securing its spot in the postseason, but the Panthers have no intention of stopping there, as they have aspirations of championships in their future.

Seniors Josh Carter, David Barrile, Maarten van Ess, Dan Imperato, and Luke Bella-Spooner are all battle-tested and know this is their last chance to take home the Division 1 crown.

Juniors Graham Asum and Fabrice YoYo are also postseason veterans, while freshman Carlos Da La Cruz and Caanan Severin add youth to the Panthers' lengthy bench.

"There is a lot of parity in Division 1. There are a lot of very good teams," Nicholas said, "but we should be in very good shape come tourney time."

Spartans formidable

Despite dropping a tough game against SWCL East rival Millbury this week, Uxbridge is also on the verge of punching its ticket to the postseason, also needing just a pair of wins to reach the playoffs.

Seniors Kyle Allaire and Andrew Groth provide the Spartans with a formidable one-two punch on offense, averaging 17.3 and 15.1 points, respectively.

"Those two guys are both coming off very good junior seasons," coach Mark Donahue said. "We got off to a good start before we lost a tough one to Millbury."

The home loss to Millbury illustrated the top-to-bottom strength of the SWCL East as it was the Woolies' first league win and the Spartans' first league loss.

"The SWCL has six teams and on any given night anybody can beat anybody," Donahue added.

The strength of the undersized Spartans is their defense, in addition to their outside shooting.

Derek Silbor, a senior tri-captain, is the team's stopper, lining up opposite the opponents' biggest offensive threat night in and night out.

"He's a tremendous defensive player. He does things statistically that you don't see in the box score," Donahue said. "He's not that big, but he's a very valuable player for us. As a team, we are very small. We often have three kids 5-foot-6 or 5-7 on the floor, but they all play defense really well."

Daniel Tessier, a 6-2 freshman, has added a little height to the team, joining the 6-3 Groth and 6-1 senior Stephen Albertelli in the frontcourt. Tessier has quickly adapted to varsity ball in his first season with the Spartans.

"He has more than held his own," said Donahue. "He's a good strong player."

Donahue, who joined the ranks of 300-game winners last season, is well aware that wins in January are not nearly as important as wins in March.

Last year the Spartans closed the season in style, knocking Oakmont out of the Clark Tournament, in addition to beating SWCL West power Bartlett, before being bounced from the Central Mass. tournament by Blackstone-Millville.

"We are coming off a good year. We ran some wins off at the end, but without question the Clark Tournament was the highlight of our season," Donahue said.

Seniors Michael Zagame, Joseph Troiano, and Derek Silbor, juniors Casey Couture, Jake Storey, Shawn Robinson and Michael Lovett, and sophomore Jason Silbor round out the roster for Donahue, who hopes to add another league title to his lengthy resume.

"We want to qualify for the Clark and we want to contend for the league title," Donahue said.

Burncoat hangs tough

Despite having just one win so far this season, the Burncoat Patriots refuse to roll over and have given opponents all they can handle in many games.

"Kids don't hang heads, they know we can turn it around," Patriot head coach Fran Incutto said. "They are all hard-working kids and I know we will turn this around. We had some tough games we've lost."

Incutto feels the 1-9 team may have turned the corner in a loss to Division 1 power St. John's.

"There was a big change in the St. John's game," Incutto said. "We have 12 games left to do something."

There won't be any easy games, as the Patriots take on all comers in addition to playing in the brutal Inter-High league.

"We play the iron. We certainly don't have it easy, but that's the way it is in Division 1," Incutto said. "The league is always tough; everybody is very good, and I think we are decent ourselves."

Incutto's biggest challenge is the lack of a big man to bang bodies in the paint and also the lack of overall experience.

"We are very young and we are trying to adapt. Hopefully we are coming around," Incutto added.

Anthony Orama leads the team's offense, averaging 14.8 ppg, second only to Doherty standout John Genkos, while Markese Berry and Brandon Boyd average 14.4 and 10.3, respectively.

Boyd possesses great basketball genes as the son of Worcester hoop legend Bobby Boyd, a former St. Peter-Marian and UConn star, who volunteers as an assistant coach with the team.

"I go way back with Bobby, we've been friends for 30 years," Incutto said. "He called and said his son was coming to Burncoat and offered to volunteer. He puts a lot of time in and does an awful lot for us. He's very good with the kids and he takes them various different places.

Jim Lanava also assists Incutto, moving up to coach the junior varsity squad after the school dropped its freshman team this year.

The Patriots roster received a shot in the arm with the transfer of Brendon Gallivan, who brings a wealth of big-game experience from his time at West Boylston, while Darien Forman, Fred Alexis, Kenny Bates, Kenny Starkey, Luis Velez, Conor Moynihan and Evan Katsoudas round out the roster.

"Everybody works very hard," Incutto said, "so I know we will turn it around."