Foxcroft boys basketball team working on program development out of the limelight

By Ernie Clark, Bangor Daily News Staff

DOVER-FOXCROFT — No one interested in Maine high school basketball wants a season devoid of fans and tournament time.

But for varsity teams that are more in the developmental stage than contending for state championships, the chance to take on that program-building effort outside the traditional limelight presents a unique opportunity.

Foxcroft Academy is in that rebuilding stage this winter under Toby Nelson, now in his first full season as head coach at his alma mater after taking over midway through the 2019-20 season.

Nelson guided the Ponies to a Class B North preliminary-round berth last year, but they return a 12-player varsity roster with more freshmen (5) than seniors and juniors combined.

“Having this kind of season probably is an advantage to programs that are young and inexperienced,” he said. “We’re trying to take full advantage of this and get minutes for kids that we might not use all the time if we were playing up in Presque Isle against a big crowd. We can get a lot of work done and introduce them to a lot of basketball this year, and for the kids I don’t think there’s as much pressure.”

Part of that philosophy is having his players become students of the game, an opportunity afforded them more than ever because of the increased number of opponents’ games available via live streaming. That trend developed as schools seek to accommodate families and other fans who aren’t able to attend games in person this winter due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“I watch the games and report out, but I also want to know what the kids say,” said Nelson, who sends his players video links of upcoming games. “We’ve really made that a part of our focus to get the kids ready, and they’re invested in it.”

Foxcroft is led by seniors Lucas Ames and Logan Martin, the roster’s two most veteran players.

Both are playing new positions, with Ames at point guard and Martin at forward, to take advantage of their athleticism, basketball acumen and experience.

“Both are very good athletes,” Nelson said. “Lucas has a high basketball IQ, and Logan is hard to stop because of his speed.”

Classmate Brad Whitten provides an additional veteran presence at forward, while younger players who are getting plenty of playing time include sophomore forwards Caden Crocker and Adam Connor, freshman forward Jackson Smith and freshman point guards Josh Cornett and Jaden Richard.

Other Ponies are junior forward Gideon Topolski, sophomore guard Cameron Chase and freshman forwards Wyatt Rayfield and Devin Henderson.

“This is a phenomenal group to be around,” Nelson said. “We practice hard, and we’ve tried to establish a culture of basketball where we need to work for everything we get. We’ve just got to grow and get some experience under our belts, but with everything so far this year there has not been a lack of effort from these kids.”

Foxcroft got off to a delayed start last month after the program was shut down temporarily due to COVID-19 concerns at the school.

“That two-week break did us few favors,” Nelson said. “I’m not complaining because everybody else is in the same boat and we did the right thing, but we were starting to see some good things and then it was like ‘boom.’

“Then when we came back we played Brewer, a Class A powerhouse, and MCI, who would have been a tournament contender in B this year. Those are two tough teams to open with.”

After dropping those games, Foxcroft had two games each scheduled against Nokomis of Newport, Dexter and Central of Corinth and one game apiece against John Bapst of Bangor, Old Town and Orono before the regular-season finale at Hermon on Feb. 26.

“In basketball it’s obviously very easy to quantify success in terms of wins and losses,” Nelson said. “But there’s a lot of other ways to quantify success.

“No matter what our record is this year, the key is going to be what kind of growth we have between now and the middle of March when we finish up and hopefully get ourselves set up for some summer work and on to next year.”