ESPN

Following the 2009-2010 season, Wellesley boys basketball head coach Luke Day stepped down after his wife, Kristan, had given birth to twins towards the end of that season. Tuesday night, Day learned he would not only be returning to the bench, but also to the Bay State Conference, as he becomes the new boys basketball coach at Brookline High School. Day is replacing Mark Fiedor, who resigned shortly following the end of this past season after 11 years at the helm, including two Division 1 state final appearances.

ESPN Boston caught up with Day earlier this week, to find out what brought him back to hardwood after just 2 seasons away from the game.

On his decision to return to coaching: “I wasn’t looking for a coaching job or applying for all of the different positions that became open, it was this particular job [that appealed to Day]. One of the things I always said was, if I was going to come back it would be for a plum job, and this is it. I know some of the staff from Mark and on down and I got to know some of the kids a few years ago from doing camps and clinics and things like that. It’s close to my house… this was an opportunity I couldn’t let pass by.”

What the process of being hired was: “When I saw the opening, I went up to my wife and I barely finished my sentence and she said ‘you gotta go for it’, so I pretty quickly decided that it was something I wanted to do. Once that was decided it was just a matter of putting an application together, we went through two interviews, and the people at Brookline were great. The interviews were pretty extensive but then Pete [Rittenburg, Brookline Atheltic Director] called me and gave me the news and I was pretty pleased.”

On his reaction to being hired: “I’m thrilled. I told my wife Tuesday night that I was a little scared but I think I’m over that. Right now, it just seems like there’s so much to do to get myself established over there, but like I said it’s such a plum job I was thrilled to hear the news.”

His thoughts on replacing Mark Fiedor: “I have a ton of personal and professional respect for Mark and what he’s done and his record speaks for itself [150-95, three Bay State Conference titles, two Division 1 South titles, two Eastern Mass. titles]. If I can even accomplish half of that in my time in Brookline, I will have done pretty well. What Mark had established there, is a pretty good starting point for me and it’s gonna help a lot.”

What his familiarity is with the Brookline program: “They have size, there’s athleticism, there’s depth and there’s talent. Every time I talk to somebody they’re telling me about someone else that can play, and that’s good. It’s going to create competition for spots, it’ll make the kids work harder and it allows you to do more things on the floor and get more kids into the games. It allows you to build a program that both those kids in the school and in the community would want to aspire to and be a part of. There’s so many good things that are just in place already, that whether it was me or whoever, they’re walking into a pretty good situation.”

What the Brookline roster has to offer: “It’s pretty good. They have a lot of people coming back, they have size, athleticism, good guard play, they have shooters, dribblers, they’re pretty good. Expectations are going to be high, I’m well aware of that, but it’ll be nice. It’s a nice challenge to have, certainly better than the opposite.”

On returning to the Bay State Conference: “I’m thrilled about coming back. One of the things I missed the most was that camaraderie, and almost all of my adult friends are through basketball and through the league. I miss seeing all of those people and getting to catch up with them before games, but already I’ve been lucky. Jay Johnson was gracious enough to call me last night from Natick, Bob Cook from Braintree was one of my recommenders, I’ve talked to and texted with Eddie Hickey the ex-coach at Dedham, and obviously Adam [Cluff, Day’s former assistant and current Framingham coach] and [former Welelsley coach] Mike Reidy right here in the building. And it’s going to be interesting too, coaching against Wellesley and against Glen [Magpiong, Wellesley’s coach] and Adam. It’s funny, I feel like Wellesley is slowly taking over the Bay State Conference now with the three of us and Mike Reidy helping over at Needham.”

What his first night coaching against Wellesley will be like: “A couple of things will mitigate the weirdness I suppose. One, is that we’re at our place and even when we come to Wellesley I won’t have ever have to coach in the gym I coached in. But it’s still gonna be strange, there’s no kids on the team next year that I coached on varsity but there are kids I coached at camps or who were in our program as freshman when I was still there. I told somebody the other day that I’m not looking forward to those games at all, probably the games that I’m least looking forward to are that and Framingham because those are the two coaches that I’m most closely tied with and it’s not a lot fun. Especially if I beat them… well that might be a little more fun.”

How he’d describe his coaching style: “The kids on my teams have played smart and they’ve played hard. I definitely believe that there’s a right way of doing things, or at least a better way of doing things than some others. With that being said, as I told the Brookline kids today, they’re going to have the freedom to do what they do well, and if we’re good at getting up and down the floor and scoring 70 or 80 points a game then that’s what we’re going to do. I try to give the kids a basic framework and give them some general concepts and then try to shape things to their skills. Then you practice it, you practice the execution and then when you go out on game night, most of the time if you’ve done it right, they’ll execute.”

Brookline High athletic director Pete Rittenburg confirmed this morning that Luke Day, the former basketball coach at Wellesley High, has been named the new head coach for the same position with the Warriors.

Day replaces Mark Fiedor, who in his 11 seasons as head coach took the Warriors to two MIAA Division 1 state finals, won over 150 games, and saw one of his alums, Jeff Adrien, move on to the NBA after a stellar four-year career at UConn.

Day stepped down from his position with Wellesley following the 2010-11 season, after the Raiders qualified for the Division 2 South tournament for the first time in four seasons.

After 11 years at the helm of Brookline High basketball, Mark Fiedor has resigned, he confirmed this morning to ESPNBoston.com.

A former center for Boston University under Rick Pitino, Fiedor will likely be most remembered for his first three seasons as head coach of the Warriors. He took over for Lance Tucker in 2001, and over the next three seasons the Warriors endured one of their most successful stretches in program history, going 64-9 and making two Division 1 state final appearances, losing in 2002 to Springfield Cathedral and in 2004 to Springfield Commerce. Those squads were led by Jeff Adrien, who led UConn to a Final Four appearance in 2009 and has since seen minutes with the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets.

Brookline went 148-95 in Fiedor's 11 years. The Warriors finished 10-12 this season, failing to qualify for the Division 1 South tournament for the second straight year.

Fiedor confirmed the news, and explained his rationale, in an email this morning:

"Yes, the rumor is reality. I took a couple days off work and went away with Val (wife). It was obvious to me that it was time for me to change my focus and step out. I went in the next work day and resigned (March 19th). I asked Pete [Rittenburg, Athletic Director] to keep it under wraps until I had met with people, players, my kids, etc. It's been an incredible job and I will continue to teach at the high school and run my camp at Thayer [Academy] during the summers.

"When I got into this back in '91 it wasn't really for basketball, it was more for the opportunity to have an impact on kids' lives. I had a clear set of priorities: God, Wife/Family, Friends, Career, Basketball. Having those things in the right order is what allowed me to invest my passion into basketball and trying to help others start the process of developing their vision and building a life for themselves. I realized that my life had become flipped and that God, Wife, Kids, and even friends where getting the leftovers and that the very things needed in order make the basketball meaningful were being neglected. My life has changed quite a bit in the past few years. I have two teen girls now and a nine year old son who wants me to coach him, as well as a wife that has been full blast working weekends for the past 7 years. It's been difficult and I've done some damage to these relationships with neglect. I don't think this move was the right decision, I know it's the right decision, and I am at peace with it.

"I guess the two things I'm very proud of is that we've sent 19 young men to play in college over the 11 seasons I've been head coach, and I've never had a player go academically ineligible in the 18 seasons as a head coach at BHS (frosh, JV, varsity). It's funny but I've spent the last week talking with about 50 different people involved in the program and about two seconds has been about basketball strategy and previous games. It's all been about relationships and thank yous and the impact we've all had on the direction of each others lives. One of those people was Lance Tucker, who literally opened his arms to me the first day I randomly walked into his gym back in 91. He didn't know who I was and the next thing you know, I'm helping him coach the team."

BROCKTON, Mass. -– No. 15 Brighton pulled out a less than stellar 69-60 victory of No. 12 Brookline last night to open up the 38th Annual Rotary Club of Brockton Holiday Tournament.

“I think we were able to get it together a little quicker than them, and I think that made the difference,” said Brighton head coach Hugh Coleman, who noted that that both teams were slow out of the gate after taking the holiday break off from game play.

The teams volleyed single-digit leads throughout the first half, with turnovers and missed shot opportunities abound. With the score 29-28 going in the break, it was anyone’s game, as neither team had shown they were ready to seize the opportunities that the other was affording them.

That changed in the third quarter when Brighton was able to pull up for a 10-point lead with 2:47 left in the quarter. They stretched the lead to as much as 13 (47-34) with 1:51 left in the quarter, but themselves could not put on a significant offensive run after early third-quarter contributions from sophomores Mark Mojica (5 points) and Nick Simpson (18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), and entered into a nearly shot-for-shot contest for the rest of the match. Brookline was able to close it down to within seven early in the fourth at 53-46, but extended slowly until the Bengals were back up by 13 with 1:09 left in the game.

Mental Toughness: Although he didn’t have a triple double, or a double anything, Brighton’s Prince Unaegbu was a presence for the Bengals in the post, grabbing five rebounds, taking one steal and scoring two points. By the look of those statistics, the numbers are not impressive, but what he brought to the Brighton game tonight cannot be counted by numbers, but from a mentality and access point of view Unaegbu was a force.

“Really raw in talent, but athletic,” is the way that that Coleman described the 6-foot-5 junior. Unaegbu played football this past fall for the Bengals, and Coleman believes that Unaegbu’s antagonism is going to be key in his career for the Brighton basketball team.

“For him to get in there, take up some space and be aggressive, I think it’s important for the other team to see that, for him to get in there and bang around," Coleman said.

Bench Depth: Late in the game, Brookline had some opportunities to score off of Brighton’s missed shots, passes that didn’t make it to their intended targets and rebounds that were simply taken out of the Brighton players’ hands -– but they could not score off many of these opportunities.

This tactic, of putting in bench players such as seniors Tre Dowman and Anderson Teneus, as well as underclassmen like Mojica and Nate Hogan, is a building exercise and is a risk that Coleman carefully calculated.

“We’re trying to balance, making sure that we get our guys in and making sure that we’re developing guys that are on our bench. We can’t expect to go deep into the season or in the playoff and not have a solid bench and role players to get in there with confidence,” Coleman said.

Déjà Vu: The last loss Brookline took was at the hands of BC High, 53-58, on December 19th. During that game, as with tonight’s loss, the Warriors were unable to play well in the third quarter and never recovered.

“Brighton took it to the basket more during that stretch and our guys didn’t responds as well as I’d like to see,” said Brookline coach Mark Fiedor. “After the third it ended up playing out even."

Unfortunately for the Warriors, when you are behind you need to play better than the other team to overcome them, not as good. Brookline boasts a mostly junior squad, and suited up played three seniors tonight. Fiedor hopes that this scenario does not become a regular showing for his team as they are preparing for league play.

BROOKLINE, Mass. -- The Boston College High Eagles continue to win in grind-it-out fashion.

Just like their season-opening win over Brockton, the points were hard to come by Monday afternoon at Brookline High. But just like the win over the Boxers, the No. 8 Eagles managed to get great defensive rotations on the blocks when they needed most, to maintain control of this game from start to finish, beating the talented but young No. 15 Warriors, 53-48.

For BC High (2-1), the backcourt of juniors Charles Collins (13 points) and Jameilen Jones (12) provided the bulk of the scoring again, while Brookline (1-1) was led by junior guard Lake Berry (15 points).

Simply put, the Warriors would not go away in this one, even as the Eagles continued to make things difficult in the half-court with a 1-3-1 defense that looked improved from Saturday's 15-point loss to No. 2 Charlestown. The Warriors frustrated at several points of the night with full-court presses.

After the Eagles went up 21-15 midway through the second quarter on a Jameilen Jones strip-and-slam on the breakaway, Brookline responded with an 8-0 run, taking the lead on a Berry three from the right wing. The Eagles were able to close out, heading into the break with a 27-23 lead.

BC was at its best, however, in the opening minutes of the third quarter, coming out of the gates on an 11-0 run to take its largest lead of the night at 38-23. The Eagles went high-low, getting multiple touches out of a possession with either Oderah Obukwelu or Justin Roberts, be it entry passes or shots from mid-range that they were able to position for an offensive rebound. The two combined for seven points and seven rebounds in the first five minutes of the quarter.

"We knew we had to attack the boards on them," Eagles head coach Bill Loughnane said. "They [Brookline] are very quick, and strong inside, but our strength is trying to get second or third shots. We knew the more we could get, the better off we'd be tonight."

Staying calm: One couldn't blame Obukwelu if he seemed frustrated in the game's earlygoings. The senior found himself on the bench in the first half with four fouls. But instead, he came back in the second half and played some of his most poised low-post defense of the early season, avoiding that fifth and final four for the rest of the game.

"The second half, he came out and he was strong," Loughnane said. "That's what we need from him if we're going to be a good team."

Filling the lanes: As noted above, one of the things that makes BC High's 1-3-1 zone defense so efficient is the length it has at its arsenal.

Last season, Division 3 state champion Whitinsville Christian boasted one of the state's tallest starting fives, led by wing Taylor Bajema (6-foot-5) and center Hans Miersma (6-foot-9). Flexing Miersma under the basket or in the middle of the zone, the Crusaders made things difficult for any team looking to attack the lanes. Its masterstroke was the state championship game, in which the Crusaders held Watertown to 11-of-54 shooting from the field -- connecting on more three's (6 for 39) than two's (5 for 15).

Loughnane's personnel grouping is obviously different, but it's the same concept: disrupt the routes on entry passes, trap in the corners, and generally keep one's hands and feet wide and active.

"One of the things we want to do with that is pressure the ball," Loughnane said. "Big teams make good plays. They made some big plays, they made some open shots, but we're hoping that they don't make too many."

Said Brookline head coach Mark Fiedor, "I think the first half, you're adjusting to seeing the guys and their length. BC's a long, athletic team, so those passes have to be at the right angle when you throw them. It's hard to simulate that at practice."

Promise on the horizon: As much fight as Brookline showed tonight, and as much height and athleticism they already display, this could be a different team come February.

At 6-foot-6, senior Zeev Gray-Mandell demonstrates tremendous jumping ability, and came up with four blocks. There were possessions where he was caught out of position, but the room for growth is evident.

Sophomore Anthony Jennings, a transplant who just moved here from Cleveland a year ago, uses his lanky 6-foot-3 frame well. Tonight, he came up with eight rebounds, six blocks and three steals harrassing the inbounder at the front of the press.

Berry and sophomore Elijah Rogers bring spunk in the backcourt, but the key may be the health of 6-foot-6 sophomore Obi Obiora, who is out with plantar fasciitis and was in a walking boot on the bench tonight. If he is healthy and in shape at the end of the year, that's another big body to throw into the fire -- and at this level of competition, size can have a significant influence on the playing field.

"Anthony's a heck of a rebounder, he really is," Fiedor said. "Zeev is a heck of a shot blocker, and I think when we get Obi back that'll help us up front, able to put another 6-6 guy in there. But they [BC High] are a little bit ahead of us developmentally. They showed a little more mental toughness than we did tonight, especially to start the second half."