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The Nokomis boys’ basketball team has totally transformed since 2021-22, when the Flagg brothers led the Warriors to their first ever state championship.
With Cooper and Ace now playing for Montverde Academy in Florida, and star guard Madden White now playing at the University of Southern Maine, just six members of Nokomis’ current basketball program were around for that championship run two years ago.
Nokomis’ head coach is also new, with assistant Josh Grant taking over for Earl Anderson this offseason.
But in Newport, new-look doesn’t necessarily mean unformidable or unfamiliar. Having coached youth basketball in the area for 15 years — most recently at Nokomis Middle School and High School — Grant’s hire brings a certain level of continuity to the table. Moreover, Warrior Nation’s six upperclassmen have quietly developed into the natural leaders Nokomis needs to experience continued playoff success.
“Two seasons ago in basketball is a lifetime,” Grant said. “But I inherited a really good basketball culture that we’ve had for many years — I want this group to be just as successful.”
Standing at 2-2 so far this season, Grant’s sprightly squad has been led by sharpshooting senior Alex Grant, shifty ball-handling senior Connor Sides and all-around scorer junior Dawson Townsend. On Thursday night versus Bangor, Alex Grant made five 3-pointers, Sides recorded eight points, eight assists and two steals, and Townsend scored 27 points.
Nokomis’ star trio play different roles come gametime, but play the same role in practice — as tone-setters and mentors for the Warriors’ younger guys.
“They come to practice and go at it,” coach Grant said. “They set the standard for what it means to be a Nokomis Warrior — having guys like that makes coaching really easy.”
In addition to being young, Nokomis is also relatively small, with Alex Grant and Sides both listed at 5-foot-10 or below, and Townsend being one of the Warriors’ tallest players at 6-foot-3. In turn, coach Grant has developed offensive and defensive systems focused around the Warriors’ speed and tenacity.
“Offensively, we want to push the pace, move the ball, get early looks, cut hard and play together,” Grant said. “Defensively, we have to get after teams — pressure the ball and gang rebounds. It all starts for us defensively.”
Like Anderson before him, Grant preaches defense before anything else.
In 2021-22, Nokomis’ defense conceded a low 40.0 points per game, including just 27 to Falmouth in the state final. Even without the Flagg brothers last year, Nokomis still had Class A North’s second-best defense at 50.8 ppg, and through four games this season Nokomis is allowing just 51.0.
Ultimately, not much can be gleaned yet from such a small sample size of games, but it is promising for a program with just three seniors and three games against higher-ranked teams in Class A North’s preseason poll (Mt. Blue, Skowhegan, Lawrence).
Nokomis is rebuilding, but with coach Grant at the reins and Newport churning out more and more talent every year, Warrior Nation’s return to playoff supremacy could come earlier than expected.