No North Shore or Cape Ann area boys hoop team was able to hoist a state championship banner this past season. But winning it all isn’t the only thing that defines a great team — and it certainly doesn’t define a great player.
Throughout the winter season a number of individuals impressed with their play in a variety of ways, helping their teams to memorable moments and marquee victories. So before we officially wave goodbye to another entertaining high school basketball campaign, let’s take a deeper look at some of those talented players and what made them so great.
Presenting our Above the Rim end of the year awards for boys basketball, and please note that we’ll roll out the girls superlatives in Monday’s editions of The Salem News and Gloucester Daily Times ...
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Cade Furse, Manchester Essex senior
When it comes to individual prowess translating to team success, nobody impacted winning more than Hornet guard Cade Furse.
The senior captain did it all for his team: scored, defended, facilitated, rebounded and led on and off the court at an elite level. Finishing with an all-around stat line of 22.3 points (on 47 percent shooting from the field), 6.1 rebounds, 3.8 steals and 2.4 assists per game, Furse was consistently at the top of the opposing team’s scouting report. He showed patience and poise in the half court, picking his spots effectively and putting the ball in the basket from all three areas of the floor. Defensively, he never backed down from a challenge, using active hands and intelligent anticipation to regularly force turnovers and get his team out in transition.
Simply put, without Furse Manchester Essex likely would’ve been in the middle of the pack in the Cape Ann League standings, fighting for a state tournament berth. With him, the Hornets went unbeaten in conference play for the second straight season, finished with a 21-2 overall record and advanced all the way to the Division 4 state quarterfinals before dropping a heartbreaking one-point decision at Millbury. Furse, the CAL Player of the Year, wraps up his four-year high school run with more than 1,000 career points and will go down as one of the best players in program history.
Honorable mention: Nick Lemmond, Marblehead; Ray Cuevas, Pingree; AB Labell, Hamilton-Wenham; Raphel Laurent, Peabody; AJ Forte, Peabody; Ray Cuevas, Pingree; Jordan Maxson, Salem.
BEST PURE SCORER
Ray Cuevas, Pingree senior
A complete player through and through, you could make an argument for Cuevas to take home virtually any of this year’s Above the Rim awards. But as good as he was in other areas, it’s his scoring that truly shines brightest.
A year-round hooper, Cuevas spends countless hours practicing different ways to find the bottom of the net, and he put all of them on display for the Highlanders. When the ball was in his hands, Cuevas read the defense well and knew when to attack the basket, pull up off the dribble or let loose from downtown. He was always moving without the ball, too, finding open seams in the defense and cutting effectively off ball. It’s not a coincidence that Cuevas led the area in scoring at 23.5 ppg., and he finished with an efficient shooting slash line of 53.2/37.0/84.4.
Cuevas has yet to commit anywhere for college, but whichever program lands him will be getting a polished player capable of making an immediate impact at the next level.
Honorable mention: Cade Furse, Manchester Essex; Nick Lemmond, Marblehead; Jordan Maxson, Salem; Raphel Laurent, Peabody; AJ Forte, Peabody.
BEST OUTSIDE SHOOTER
Max Chesley, Ipswich senior
The 3-point shot is such a huge part of today’s game, and there’s a long list of local players who can knock it down at an extremely high level. That made this particular category very difficult to pick, but I lean Chesley simply based on the way opposing defenses would game plan for him and face guard him whenever he caught the ball beyond the arc.
The 6-foot-5 swingman boasts a smooth stroke with a high release point, giving him the immediate upper hand against the majority of players that guarded him. His range extended well beyond the 3-point line, too, and once he saw one go in, it almost always led to a number of other makes from deep.
Chesley finished the year with 60 made triples, tied for the third highest mark in the area. The only two players above him (Rockport’s Josiah Whitley with 73 and Marblehead’s Nick Lemmond with 62), however, both had the luxury of playing two more games as their teams advanced in their respective state tournament brackets.
Honorable mention: Josiah Whitley, Rockport; Ed Merz, Rockport; Nick Lemmond, Marblehead; Mike Miller, St. John’s Prep; Raphel Laurent, Peabody; AJ Forte, Peabody; Johnny Chareas, Manchester Essex; Jordan Maxson, Salem.
BEST MID-RANGE SHOOTER
Cade Furse, Manchester Essex senior
Anybody who got the chance to watch the aforementioned Furse play knows he was a threat to score from anywhere on the floor. But when you really break things down, his mid-range pull-up was his bread and butter.
Somewhat of a lost art in today’s game, it’s a shot Furse prides himself on and he admits he practices it tirelessly throughout the season, and has for years. His ability to stop on a dime, create space, elevate from just inside or outside the key and swish it home or benefit from a soft touch is first class. Furse held a two-point field goal efficiency shooting rate of 58 percent, and although he took his share of threes (6.5 attempts per game), it was largely in the mid range where he did the bulk of his damage.
Honorable mention: Jacob Klass, Beverly; Nick Lemmond, Marblehead; Caden Schrock, Hamilton-Wenham; AJ Forte, Peabody; Ray Cuevas, Pingree.
BEST FRESHMAN
Jordan Maxson, Salem
A standout eighth-grader for Salem Academy last winter, Maxson took home a similar honor in this column in 2023 as the “Best first-year player.” Now officially entering high school and transferring to nearby Salem High, Maxson only elevated his game.
An NEC All-Conference selection, Maxson made an immediate and profound impact for head coach Tom Doyle, quickly establishing himself as the team’s top offensive option and one of the premier talents in the area. He averaged just under 20 points per game, shot close to 40 percent from distance (with 49 makes), grabbed 3.5 rebounds and dished out 2.5 assists. Maxson had some of his best performances down the regular season stretch and into the playoffs, showing maturity and confidence rarely seen from a player his age.
Honorable mention: Rex Satter, Ipswich; Elian Rodriguez, Salem; Graham Lewis, Manchester Essex; Carlos Velazquez, Gloucester; Finn Baron, Marblehead.
BEST REBOUNDER
Chris Collins, Hamilton-Wenham senior
It’s hard to argue against a player that averaged 15.1 rebounds per game, by far the best mark in the area and likely one of the top marks in the state. Collins, a football player first, used his physically imposing frame and overall strength to regularly bully players in the paint without fouling. He relied on sound fundamentals, boxing guys out and timing his jumps extremely well.
Collins did damage on both the offensive (125 boards) and defensive glass (207 boards), displaying a relentless motor for cleaning up shots.
Honorable mention: Scotty Campbell, Marblehead; Eddie Chareas, Manchester Essex; Jimmy Vahey, Bishop Fenwick; Charlie Lynch, Pingree.
BEST FACILITATOR
AB Labell, Hamilton-Wenham junior
While facilitating isn’t only about how many assists per game you average, it’s impossible to ignore Labell’s nightly numbers when it comes to dishing the rock. The talented floor general was arguably Hamilton-Wenham’s most talented scorer, but it was his passing and overall unselfishness that allowed the Generals to have a successful season.
Labell averaged 6.8 dimes per game, over a full assist more than the next best player in the area in that category (Pingree’s Cuevas at 5.5 apg.). He wasn’t necessarily flashy with his passes, but extremely effective. Whether he was penetrating the defense and kicking out to the open shooter or zipping one into the lane to a cutting teammate, Labell consistently made the right decision.
Honorable mention: Ray Cuevas, Pingree; Elian Rodriguez, Salem; Jimmy Farrell, Masconomet; Rex Satter, Ipswich.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Raphel Laurent, Peabody senior
Last year it was Laurent’s teammate AJ Forte who took home this honor. This winter, it was Laurent who made the biggest leap.
A noticeable growth spurt allowed Laurent to play more physical on both ends of the floor. He thrived at getting into the paint and finishing at the rim, vastly improved his jump shot, and wound up leading the Tanners in scoring at 22.1 points per game — over 10 points higher than his junior season average of 11.8. Laurent also become a factor on the glass, tearing down a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game from the guard position, and he tied Forte at a team-high 3.1 assists per contest.
Laurent was no slouch on defense, either, moving his feet well on the perimeter and serving as a reliable pest on that side of the ball. Laurent’s overall improvements helped Peabody to an impressive 18-2 regular season record, their best in recent memory.
Honorable mention: Nick Lemmond, Marblehead; Connor Chiarello, Swampscott; Ed Merz, Rockport; Josiah Whitley, Rockport; Jacob Klass, Beverly; Charlie Lynch, Pingree; Brady Jenkins, Bishop Fenwick.
BEST DEFENDER
Eddie Chareas, Manchester Essex senior
Standing every bit of 6-foot-6 and weighing in at a sturdy 235 pounds, Chareas was simply a monster in the paint. The big man protected the rim like a brick wall, averaging 1.5 blocks per game and altering a number of other shots every time he took the court. At times opposing teams would shy away from attacking the basket all together simply because of Chareas’ presence down low.
Strictly based on his size, Chareas would be an effective interior defender even without skills. But his growth as a player saw him regularly put two hands in the air and keep his feet grounded on ball fakes, rather than leaping to try to swat a shot and risking a foul. Chareas was one of those players that forced teams to alter their game plan when he was on the court — which was a lot. and for a true center, he moved his feet well when taken outside of the key by his man.
Honorable mention: Scotty Campbell, Marblehead; Devante Ozuna, Salem; Quinn Rocco Ryan, Salem; Nakeylan Davis, Swampscott.
Above the Rim, a column on North Shore basketball, appears in the pages of The Salem News and Gloucester Daily Times during the winter season. Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@gloucestertimes.com and follow along on Twitter/X @NickGiannino_GT
