Tavares Lowell Bound
Few players have shown more improvement during a single calendar year than Tilton’s post-graduate point guard Scott Tavares. A year ago he was finishing up his senior season at Lexington High School in Massachusetts and getting almost solely division III level recruiting in the process.
But Tavares wasn’t satisfied, so soon after the season came to an end he made known his intension to do a post-graduate year at the Tilton School, and then quickly went back to work, this time with his Raiders AAU team. The 5’9” point guard was first noticed by the New England Recruiting Report at the Northeast Hoops Festival in April because of his ability to create off the dribble. A couple of months later, Tavares again stood out at the Rumble in the Bronx.
But undoubtedly, Tavares’ break out performance came at Hoop Mountain’s Super Week I Camp, where he not only led his team to the championship, but also picked up MVP honors in the process.
He excelled during all four days of the showcase camp as he couldn’t be kept out of the lane but also showed college coaches an ability to distribute the ball and knock down shots from the perimeter.
Once the summer ended, Tavares’ next stop was in Tilton, New Hampshire. With the big three of Oriakhi, Coombs, and Coleman on board, many wondered if Tavares would be capable of keeping up with his new teammates. But the day the New England Recruiting Report made the trip north, it was obvious that the 5’9” point guard was putting in the hard work to be successful.
Before his team played open gym, they first went through a series of footwork & agility drills. Every player on the roster was going hard, but Tavares was working harder than anyone…and doing it while wearing a weight jacket.
Now, with just four games to play on Tilton’s regular season schedule, Tavares’ hard work has clearly paid off. Not only has he proved without a shadow of a doubt that he is the player to run this talented team, but the Rams have had great success in the process as they’ve won 18 of their 20 contests while knocking off every potential class B contender in the process.
As for Tavares in particular, not only has shown that he can continue to make plays off the dribble against a high level of competition but he has also answered many of the other questions coaches had about his game: he’s done a great job of sacrificing his own offense for the betterment of the team; he’s proven he can be a consistent threat at the three-point line; a valuable defensive presence who can pick up and apply pressure for the entire length of the court; and an excellent passer of the basketball, especially in the open floor.
Those qualities were certainly appealing to many college coaches, as Tavares’ steady improvement had attracted the attention of division II schools including the likes of UMass Lowell, Assumption, Southern New Hampshire, and Pfeiffer.
Late last week, the Lexington native decided to stay close to home as he accepted a scholarship offer to play his college basketball in the Northeast 10 Conference at UMass Lowell.
Scott Tavares