The golden boy returns to Wells

WELLS — He left a year ago for education and basketball glory.

Now Alex Furness returns to his old stomping grounds with both, and hopes to have the same success, both in the classroom and on the basketball court, with his hometown buddies one last time before he graduates.

Furness, a senior guard, won a Maine Class A state championship with Cheverus last season, and was a key cog to the Stags success, particularly in the playoffs.

“That was a great learning experience,” Furness said. “Coming from Class B to Class A, the change in the crowd size and the skills of the players, and I learned so much from that I will be able to use in the future.”

The Stags playoff run was mired in controversy, in regards to the eligibility of top player Indiana Faithful, who transferred to Cheverus from Australia. It was found that Faithful, due to the different school seasons there and in the United States, was out of eligibility. The Maine Principals Association decided to let Faithful play in the state championship game, and Cheverus won the title, and thus far, have been allowed to keep it.

“It definitely was in our heads the whole time,” Furness said. “But I think we handled it maturely, and used it as motivation going into the five or six game stretch, ‘Get this one for Indy, get this one for Indy.’ Then, when he finally came back for the playoffs, it was such a boost for us that we thrived off of that.”

But now he’s returned to his old stomping grounds, in the hopes he can achieve the same success, this time for a Class B championship, with the Warriors. That achievement won’t be easy. Wells finished last season with a 2-16 record. But head coach Troy Brown believes the talent is there, and with Furness on the team, the Warriors have every reason to believe they can contend.

“He sets a precedence now in our practices,” Brown said. “Coming back after playing for one of the best coaches, not just in the state, but in New England [Cheverus head coach and Maine hall of famer Bob Brown], the intensity he brings to practice every single day, even being the best basketball player, really helps us out. We struggled [last year] record wise, I thought we had some good kids and good basketball players, but Ales makes us that much better. He sees the floor so well, he is not a selfish player. He works every day in practice. Everybody likes him, which made the transition very easy. In one sense, I didn’t want to see him leave, but it helped maybe some of these other kids mature a little on the court, and now their confidence is greater, not because he came back, but because they had to be thrown into the fire last year.”

For Furness, the change will be easy, as he knows all of the players.

“These are all my friends,” Furness said. “Even when I was at Cheverus, I still talked to all of these kids and I hung with them outside of school. That’s why I think we can be good this year. Everybody’s close, everybody’s friends, even outside the basketball court. I think we’re an athletic team, and we’re going to be able to get a lot of points in transition, and we’re good defensively also.”

Furness is also excited to play with guard Paul McDonugh, who scored 11.5 points per game last season.

“Beforehand, we weren’t on the floor as much,” Furness said. “Now that we’re going to be on the floor the whole time, I think it’s going to work out between us and we’re going to be a good 1-2 punch this year.”

Both will also have a talented cast around them. Billy Wang returns for his third season as a starter. Zach Deshaies, who’s a talented athlete that is one of the top rebounders and a good defensive player. Josh Ingalls provides size at 6’4″ to go along with Furness, who is 6’5″. They will also have some talented sophomores in Jason Chase and Dylan Stevens. Doug McLean will move the ball around at point guard.

“We have athletes on our basketball team that can get out and go,” Brown said. “We’re hoping that our defense or our athleticism will get us some easy baskets, which we didn’t get in the last two years.”

It’s a winning combination that could equal into the turnaround story of 2010.

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