Varsity Basketball Team Finishes Historic Season

 

"We were certainly devastated by the end of the King game," head coach Joey Kuhl said. "Part of losing a one-point game is understanding that any of the errors made throughout the game (from coaches and players) could flip a result like that."

Rather than dwelling on the loss, the Panthers embraced the adversity and used it as fuel heading into the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class B Large playoffs.

"We took a day off and then had an intense practice on Saturday that culminated in watching the film [of the King game] together," Kuhl said. "We followed that with a team brunch in the dining hall just to lean back into the relationships and joy that this team displayed all year. We faced adversity all season and had gone through it, not around it. It was important that we face it, but do so together with teammates to lean on in those tough moments. The captains did a great job refocusing the team and getting us excited to have a chance to keep playing."

The end result was historic. 

No. 5-seeded Masters upset No. 4-seeded Greenwich Country Day School (GCDS), 56-46, in its quarterfinal matchup, advancing to the NEPSAC final four for the first time in program history. 

Although Masters fell, 65–47, to top-seeded and eventual champion St. Mark's in the NEPSAC semifinals on March 7, the loss did little to diminish the team's landmark season.

"It was a tremendous honor and something the entire team felt pride in," Kuhl said. "They had worked extremely hard, so it was nice for them to feel like they had done something unprecedented at the school."

Against GCDS, Luc Brongniart ’26 scored a team-high 15 points. Hudson Rodriguez (14 points), Damian Mojica ’28 (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Noah Ferguson ’28 (8 points, seven rebounds) rounded out the offensive production. Omari Levy ’26 anchored an airtight defensive effort, which saw the Panthers limit GCDS to a season-low 46 points. 

"We didn’t play our best game against GCDS, but [we] stayed together and connected the entire time," Kuhl said. "We did just enough defensively, led by Omari Levy and Damian Mojica, to pull away with the win. Hudson Rodriguez and Luc Brongniart made key plays throughout the game to help steady us offensively."

Masters finished the season with a 19–6 record, setting a new standard for the program. Eight seniors will graduate from the team this spring.

"The program [the seniors] leave is completely unrecognizable to the one they entered," Kuhl said. "They put in hard work, sacrificed, and were vulnerable with one another to try to go do something that hadn’t been done. All year long, this team cared for one another at an extremely high level, and they were an absolute pleasure to coach. They will be missed next year."