HUDSON – Hudson’s boys basketball team is set to take the court for the opening round of this year’s MIAA state championship tournament.
For four players, a bit of family competition is adding an extra dimension to this already high stakes game.
Brady Stuart, Mikey DiCarlo, Max Person and Jackson O’Brien are all members of this year’s Hudson High School (HHS) boys basketball squad.
They’re also all younger siblings to former HHS basketball players who helped the team in a historic 22-3 season in 2019.
2019 team turned heads
The 2019 Hawks were dominant, rumbling through their regular season with a nearly perfect record.
Helmed by stars like Kris O’Brien, Noah Stuart, Tim Person and Anthony DiCarlo, the squad made its way to a sectional finals game.
Along the way, Person in particular earned the rare milestone of scoring 1,000 points in his high school career.
“They were going to play harder than you,” Max Person said of that team. “They were going to rebound. They were just going to do everything with a higher intensity and more effort than everybody that they were playing.”
Max said he saw the impact that his brother’s team’s success had.
“They just sparked some hope for Hudson basketball which then led to all of us being on the team now…trying to repeat what they did,” he said.
Current team rebounds from tough season
The years since 2019 have been somewhat difficult for Hudson.
Disrupted by COVID-19, the team’s season last year saw them win just one game.
Things have turned around this year, though, with the Hawks pushing through their regular season to secure a playoff spot and a 29th overall ranking in the state Division III bracket.
That has set them up for a game against Greater Lawrence High School in the preliminary round of their MIAA Division III bracket tonight in Hudson.
“We’re going through, game by game, trying to put our best performance and showing people that we play with anyone,” Stuart said of his outlook on this year’s success.
Players eye growth
Stuart, a senior, will soon leave the team.
DiCarlo and Person, juniors, and O’Brien, a sophomore, have more time left in their HHS careers, though.
For DiCarlo, that reality fits into a sense that this team isn’t done.
“If we play up to our potential, we really aren’t underdogs because we haven’t reached that peak yet,” he said.
‘There’s no better feeling than showing them up’
With several years and a pandemic separating this winter’s season from the 2019 fireworks their brothers brought to bear, Hudson High School’s current basketball team is looking to the future.
They’re also driven by the past, though, motivated by their brothers’ successes and hopeful for new wins of their own.
“All of our brothers paved the way,” Person said.
“There’s no better feeling than showing them up,” O’Brien added.
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