Salve Basketball Team Shoots for Great Season

By: Sarina Vasta
Posted In: Sports

The Salve Regina men’s basketball team played their first game on Nov. 16, 2009 against Albertus Magnus, losing in a heartbreakig 73-72 final score. “Our kids played very hard against Albertus Magnus,” said Sean Foster, coach for the basketball team. “Albertus did a great job making plays both on the defensive and offensive end. Our kids will get better, learn to stay composed and handle pressure a little bit better.”

The next basketball game is away on Nov. 20, 2009 against Wheaton, Mass. “I believe this team will play unselfish and will play their best basketball in the league portion of our season,” Foster said. “If they do, we have a bright future ahead of us.”

Coach Foster is in his eighth season coaching the men’s basketball team. Last season the men’s team finished the season 13-12. Captains for the 2009-2010 season are juniors Dan Royce and Ryan Birrell. “Our men’s basketball team is young and inexperienced, but they play extremely hard,” Foster said. “We will be utilizing pressure defense and we will be working to develop a deep bench to wear opponents down,” Foster said of the upcoming season.

One of the new players to the program is freshman, Derrick Delisser, who will serve as a shooting guard. Delisser has played basketball since he was about six years old. He is one of five freshmen who made the team this season. The key returning players are Dan Royce, Ryan Birrell, JB Boyd and Andrew Knight.

“Our expectations are to fill the shoes of our best player, Windell, because he’s gone now due to injury,” Delisser said. “We just want to make it to the NCAA tournament this year and win our conference. We need everyone to work together because we are small and young and by the end of the season, we all want the same thing, and that’s the championship.”