ORFORD — Ross Convertino gathered his team together at center court. Less than 24 hours removed from their first loss of the season, members of the Rivendell Academy boys basketball team held hands in a circle and talked about what had transpired the night before.
The second-year coach of the Raptors discussed how proud he was of how they played. The only reason why he was upset was that he believed that they were the better team that night, but they didn’t walk away winners. He also echoed the message they all know — Rivendell controls its own destiny.
You can learn a lot about a team by how it loses. From how it reacts minutes after to how it practices the day after. Not much has to be said to explain it.
The Raptors lost at VPA Division III Bellows Falls in overtime on Tuesday night, 61-56. After almost two full months of perfection, however, Division IV Rivendell (12-1) lost.
“I wouldn’t say anything wasn’t clicking,” Zach Gould said after Wednesday’s practice. “We didn’t run our lanes like we usually do, I think. And we just we couldn’t finish underneath the basket. I mean, we were getting hit pretty hard, but that’s just how it is, so we gotta get used to it.
“It’s always a good thing to win, but it’s also a good thing to learn how to lose, and I think we’re just going to bounce back. We’re going to be stronger than we were before.”
When Convertino accepted the athletic director job at Rivendell two years ago, he did so to be closer to home; he is from Springfield, Mass. He wanted to be able to make the drive home in a day’s drive or less. He was also ready to set down roots.
With the job, he also took over the Raptors’ boys basketball program. Last season’s team included five seniors, but the six underclassmen contributed major minutes and are this season’s core. A large portion of the group was also “mainly soccer first players,” too, Convertino said.
It was a new challenge for him, but his background — which includes being a student manager with UConn men’s basketball and graduate assistant coach at Gonzaga — lent itself to finding a system that would work for his players.
Convertino installed a 2-2-1 full-court trap that gives plenty of defensive opportunities while being a good press for containment and not allowing easy scores on the other end of the floor. The scheme also forces the offense to beat the press with smart cuts and passing, something plenty of high school teams struggle to do.
Rivendell plays fairly free-spirited on the offensive end, but Convertino focuses on smart shot selection.
“We’ve come a long way, and you know,” Convertino said. “We really have an understanding of the game and a high IQ, so I can honestly say we have a group of basketball kids now.
“It’s fun to play fast. We have the makeup of: This year, our shooting’s improved. We’ve gotten better at our press, and we’ve forced teams to turn the ball over, to kind of speed up the game when there’s no shot clock.”
Tuesday night’s loss doesn’t have Rivendell in panic mode. The Raptors are confident in their brand of basketball and know that shooting 59% from the free-throw line, which happened at BF, isn’t going to happen often.
Sophomore Kyle Carter, the team’s leading scorer at 18.2 points per game, has become the go-to offensive threat, with accuracy from beyond the arc and a vicious drive to the basket. He almost threw down a dunk in practice on Wednesday night. Gould is one of three captains and scoring 13.5 points per contest. He won a state title in soccer in 2018 and knows what it takes to be successful in postseason play.
But before the Raptors can worry about the D-IV tournament, they have to make it through their final seven games. They visit White River Valley on Feb. 11, host Bellows Falls on Feb. 14 and travel to second-place Twin Valley on Feb. 21 in the season finale.
“I’m not looking ahead at what game we need to win,” Convertino said. “At the end of the day, we’re the byproduct of us doing what we do, in following our process and worrying about getting better individually and collectively.”
Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com.