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For 25 games, the Williamstown boys basketball team was unbeatable.
Though the 2022-23 season didn't have the ending the Yellowjackets hoped for, falling to Charleston Catholic in the Class AA state semifinals, head coach Scott Sauro was proud of what this year's group accomplished.
Proud not just because of the win total, but because they tried something not a lot of teams would try.
"I told these guys two months ago, 'What we're doing here is an experiment in unselfishness,'" Sauro said following Williamstown's 57-54 loss to the Irish last Friday.
In that game, Williamstown rotated 11 players into the game in the first eight minutes, and all 11 of those players scored at least one point in the contest. And this wasn't a one-game thing -- it was Williamstown's identity all season.
"You have to understand, we played 26 games and we played 11 guys in the first quarter of every game that they were available," said Sauro, who told his players this season "'none of you guys are going to play 28 to 32 minutes a game. You're going to play 20 and 19 and 18, and some of you will play 10, 11, 12. We're going to do that so we can be a team that pressures and a harder team to guard.'"
That's a nice philosophy on paper, but none of it works without a group of players willing to buy in and be selfless. Sauro got that selflessness from this year's group, and the results spoke volumes even though it didn't result in a state title.
"For a group of kids 14 deep to buy into that is unusual," Sauro said. "There's a lot of kids at a lot of schools that would not like that very much. We never heard a word from these guys all year long from November the 14th to today."
Alex Irvin was a first team all-state selection after averaging 16 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.5 steals and one block per game for the Yellowjackets. In a different situation, Irvin likely could have been more ball dominant and put up bigger numbers, but he and his teammates put team success over individual success. Collectively, that mentality led to a special season for the Yellowjackets.
"This is the best group of kids I've ever been around," said Irvin, one of two seniors on this year's team along with Kent Wigal. "They're so unselfish. They work hard. They're the hardest working group I've ever seen throughout my entire basketball career. They're going to be back next year and they're going to be better than they were this year. They just have to have the leaders to do it, and this coaching staff is the best coaching staff in the state. They're going to get them there. These kids are going to be back here and they're coming for a state championship next year."
Nine of the 11 players in Williamstown's regular rotation will be back next year, which bodes well for the future, but this year's group laid the foundation.
"These kids will put in the work, I can guarantee you that," Sauro said.
"I'm super grateful to have coached them. They were an awesome, awesome group of kids and we battled as much as we could."
Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@newsandsentinel.com.