Play hard. Play smart. Play together.
Brick by brick, Ferullo built a championship contender.
On Friday night, the Eagles (10-2) clinched their first Commonwealth Athletic Conference small school division title with a 70-53 road win over Minuteman Tech. After a tight opening three quarters, Mystic Valley pulled away in the final frame.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Ferullo said. “I’m very proud of my players. Seeing them come off the court tonight, you see that hard work really pays off.”
The Eagles’ rise to the top was an unusual one. Ferullo started working at Mystic Valley, a small K-12 charter school in Malden, nine years ago. He was charged with the task of building the school’s basketball program from scratch. Ferullo began coaching fifth and sixth graders, gradually moving up as the school added new classes before settling in as varsity coach.
The school joined the Commonwealth Athletic Conference seven years ago, but Mystic Valley competes against many larger schools, and the team struggled to win in past seasons. Eventually results started to go the Eagles’ way.
“I’ve built this program up for the past nine years,” Ferullo said. “Last season was our best season.”
Until now.
Mystic Valley’s squad has seven seniors, an experienced group that includes some who have played for Ferullo for four years. Each player fills a role in the coach’s system. Senior Greg Statho is a prolific scorer and is just 26 points away from topping 1,000 for his career. Forward Ben Bottrell averages almost 20 points a game. Senior Joey Foley and junior Hari Perisic are a pair of all-purpose guards. They all play a ferocious brand of press-and-trap defense. That balanced formula paid remarkable dividends.
As Friday’s game ended, Ferullo recalled the years of hard work that he and long-time assistant Don Breault have put into the program, and the players who put in so much work.
“What I remembered most was that we built this thing the right way from the ground up,” Ferullo said. “The nice thing is that we like to build a family atmosphere. This senior group is the best group I’ve ever had.”
