Rams hope preseason schedule tough enough Bangor opens Class A title defense Friday

BANGOR – Preseason basketball is primarily about conditioning and the search to define players’ roles within the team concept.

It’s also about gaining an understanding of the long road ahead, both for teams seeking their identity and for those whose identity is based on their program’s tradition.

Bangor High was considered one of the top boys basketball teams in the state even before the 2006-07 season began, but the Rams used an exhibition-game loss as a valuable wake-up call en route to the state championship run that proved those early supporters right.

“Last year we played Portland and lost to them by one,” said senior center Ryan Weston. “I think that was really when we realized that maybe we weren’t as good as we thought we were. That’s really when we started to work hard and get after it.”

That realization became the impetus for a 21-1 season that ended with a 56-39 victory over that same Portland team in the state final.

Now, eight months later, Bangor similarly is being touted as one of the teams to beat in Class A.

And the Rams are taking a similar approach in preparing for Friday’s season opener against Hampden Academy at Red Barry Gymnasium.

Two evenings of rigorous scrimmages against Eastern B champion Camden Hills of Rockport, followed by a two-point loss to Portland and a victory over Deering of Portland over the weekend and a Gorham game set for Tuesday, all are designed to get the champs ready to defend their title.

“My anticipation was that it was going to be easier and we’d be further along,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed. “But you have a tendency to remember what it was like last spring and where we were back then, and we sometimes forget that these kids haven’t done as much over the summer with basketball and now have gone through a football season.”

While Bangor will field the most senior-laden team of Reed’s 23-year tenure with the Rams, a roster dominated by 11 seniors is not without question marks – though the chemistry inherent in having so many players from the same class can’t hurt.

“We’ve all been playing together for a while now, a lot of us since seventh grade,” said senior Jon McAllian, “and we all hang out with each other so we know each other pretty well.”

Bangor graduated two key players from a year ago in first-team All-Maine forward Alex Gallant and point guard Troy Jellison.

“We’re still working on conditioning plus trying to feel our way as to how we will make changes with our personnel to fill various spots,” said Reed. “We’ve got to find who’s going to run the point and who will be our primary defenders. Those are things we’re looking at.”

The Rams are addressing any such question marks from a position of size and strength.

The 6-foot-5 Weston, a third-team All-Maine choice last winter, emerged as a force during postseason play and figures to be one of the state’s top returning big men.

“I think everybody has to adjust,” he said. “We’ve got a pretty big target on our backs this year and we all know it, so we have to work extra hard because everyone’s going to be gunning for us.”

Other key returning Rams are 6-3 swingman Lee Suvlu, an honorable mention All-Mainer who is an explosive offensive presence; the 6-5 McAllian, a pure long-range shooter who recently accepted a full basketball scholarship from the University of Maine; 6-3 Adam Bernstein, who came up big during the Rams’ postseason run with defense and perimeter shooting; and 6-4 Bill Zolper, who saw valuable time as a reserve during the playoffs and may inherit Gallant’s power forward duties.

“I think since Alex is gone, we have to step up and do our roles,” said Zolper. “We’re all seniors now, so we have to lead the team.”

Senior forwards Ian Edwards and Sam Martin, senior guard Christian Larochelle and junior guard Ryan Larochelle also should be valuable contributors.

“I think every year Bangor’s going to be somewhat similar to the year before because of the style of offense we play that’s in the tradition of Bangor,” said Suvlu. “I think what’s really going to matter is how we come together at the end of the year like we did last year.”

But that quest to peak in February really begins even before the first real game is played.

“I don’t think you can get any better competition than what we play in preseason,” said Weston. “We know playing good competition like this we’re going to have to do all the little things right, and it helps us see what we’re doing wrong so we can work on it in practice and fix it for later in the season.”