LOWELL — You kind of had a feeling after Georgetown won the Division 4 state championship a year ago.
Through the celebration on the Tsongas Center court for the program’s first ever title, you could easily get to thinking to yourself, “Hey, wait a minute, the Royals could legitimately do this again next year.” With three Daily News All-Stars slated to return in Brendan Loewen, Irvin Zapata and Jomar Terrero, why couldn’t the Royals go back-to-back?
Well, they almost did.
An epic title defense made it all of the way back to the Div. 4 championship game, where Georgetown lost to top-seeded Wareham on Saturday afternoon, 80-73, at the Tsongas Center. It was obviously a gut punch to everyone involved with the program, making it back to the final game of the season only to end up with the silver medal. But while nobody in that dejected locker room was looking ahead to next year, the same logic kind of applies.
The Royals will have the returning talent, and the desire, to climb back to the mountain top in 2026-27.
“They’re self-motivated,” said Georgetown coach Ted Schruender. “They were self-motivated this past year after we won a championship, and they’re going to be self-motivated this upcoming year when we make it to the finals and don’t win it.”
Another “Big 3” is in line to return to the Royals next winter.
And it starts with Terrero, who will be a four-year varsity player and likely a two-time Daily News All-Star heading into his senior year. The rugged, do-it-all forward finished this year averaging 13.0 points per game, and will head into his final winter campaign with 568 career points. A starter since midway through his freshman year, Terrero has been through the playoff battles and knows exactly what winning basketball looks like.
And just take a look at how he elevated during this year’s playoff run:
–Carver, Round of 32: 19 points, 9 rebounds.
–Sutton, Sweet 16: 19 points, 12 rebounds.
–Blue Hills, Elite 8: 12 points, 5 rebounds.
–Millbury, Final Four: 12 points, 10 rebounds.
–Wareham, Finals: 18 points, 3 rebounds.
Yeah, not bad averaging 16.0 points and 7.8 boards in the five biggest games of the year.
But the Royals are also in line to return their starting backcourt.
Rayner Hernandez didn’t really play that much on last year’s title team, but took a huge leap forward as a junior in becoming the team’s point guard. The lightning-quick lefty is best known as a defensive stopper, but he averaged 7.7 ppg this year while showcasing an improving outside shot with 11 total 3s. Then sophomore Meziah Rodriguez just simply came out of nowhere this season for the Royals. Already an uber-talented athlete (he can dunk standing at just 5-foot-8), the fearless competitor averaged 9.7 ppg with 26 3s. He scored 16 points with four 3s in the Sweet 16 win over Sutton, 17 points on three triples against Blue Hills in the Elite 8, then 11 points against Wareham in the title game.
If Rodriguez hits a growth spurt this summer … watch out.
“They’re a great group of young guys,” said Schruender.
So those three will be a terrific foundation to start with.
Then, it’s up to the internal development of this year’s bench pieces. Junior forward Gio Concalves is already the tallest player on the team, and he actually averaged 3.4 ppg this year while having a 13-point game against Rockport. He’ll give the Royals some height, then look for a few from the sophomore grouping of Eliseo Vasquez, Erick Martinez, Nathan Anderton and Zack Scenna to take that next step.
Because, hey, the standard has been raised.
Nobody expected either Hernandez or Rodriguez to have the impact that both of them ended up having this year. Now, it’s up to members of that group to make similar leaps to join the “Big 3” come next winter.
“They’re gonna work hard because that what’s in their DNA,” said Schruender.