EASTON, Maine — With a new head coach, and a vow to improve on its early playoff exit last year, the 2019-2020 Easton boys varsity basketball team is more than ready to get back on the court.
Bradley Trask is the new coach of the Bears, replacing Cody Closson. Trask knows the school’s basketball program well. A proud Easton native, he played for the team throughout high school before graduating in 2009. Enrolling at the University of Maine at Presque Isle shortly after, he played on the men’s basketball team throughout his time as an undergraduate.
Trask, who works as an optometrist, said that while he had a few “nerves” about his new job, his extensive experience in the game of basketball made him sure that he was ready to take on new duties.
“You’re going to make mistakes, whether you’ve been coaching for a year, or if you’ve been coaching for 30 years,” Trask said.
Trask understandably wants his team to have a high winning percentage on the season and to make it far in the playoffs. Yet, for him, winning isn’t all that high school basketball can offer his players.
“I want to make sure the kids are improving, and enjoying the game,” Trask said. “Obviously we want to win, but I want them to have fun doing it.”
While he thinks very highly of his team, both personally and athletically, every practice he zeroes in on two areas of improvement: defense and “intensity.”
Trask says many high school basketball players think defense is when you tone it down and “catch your breath” in preparation for offensive ball-handling. But he wants to turn that proposition on its head. He sees defense not as a sideshow, but an easy avenue to victory.
He admits that this quest is not always easy. He says the NBA players that young players are watching, such as James Harden and Kyrie Irving, are not making it in the highlight reel because of defensive prowess, but from offensive fireworks.
“Defense, with kids, you gotta just get em’ to buy in,” Trask said. “And we’re still working on it.”
Intensity is a much more abstract concept, but one that he continues to focus on. He wants the players to be giving 100 percent all the time. He says he’s been happy with improvements he’s seen so far in this sector, but, as with defense, there is always room for improvement.
Trask comes into the 2019-2020 season with a team of relative veterans: the majority are juniors and seniors who have played varsity basketball for three years or four years. He says he values their comradery and genuine selflessness that they exhibit on-and-off the court.
“They don’t care who scores,” Trask said. “Just as long as Easton has the most points on the scoreboard.”
Last season, the Bears went 11-7, before losing to East Millinocket-based Schenck High School in the preliminary playoffs in Bangor.
Senior guard Matthew Pangburn said that while the early loss in the playoffs last year “stung,” he and his team were ready to redeem themselves in the new season.
“I’m excited to get back there and grow with the team. To be ready every day,” Pangburn said.
Kooper Kinney, also a senior and guard, said his team was rife with pride for their school. He and his teammates planned on dedicating their season, as they did in the previous Easton boys soccer season, to the memory of former Easton Schools custodian Vance Smith, who died in a motorcycle crash in July.
“There’s a lot of pride with Easton on the front of your jersey,” Kinney said. “I love looking back at the stadium and seeing your hometown cheering you on.”
The members of the Easton boys team are seniors Troy Chasse, Seth Faloon, Kooper Kinney, Malcolm McDougall, Matthew Pangburn and juniors Paul Bonner, Madison Bubar, Kody Carter, Austin Carver, Kyle Flewelling, Camden Michaud, Owen Nicholson. Ben Currier and Ben Wipperman are the only sophomores and freshmen on the team respectively.
