With little over half of the season behind the men’s basketball team, state playoffs surround the thoughts of the boys dressed in purple in gold.

The Caps have lost four games. Broughton was defeated in Wilmington on Friday, Dec. 2 by Hoggard. A week later, the Caps evened the score defeating Hoggard in Holliday Gym. The team has played six conference games, winning against Millbrook, Wake Forest-Rollesville and Enloe, but losing three hard fought games to Leesville Road, Wakefield and Sanderson.

Against Leesville, the top ranked team in the conference, the Caps went down early but rallied back to take the lead late in the second half. However, the Leesville Pride did not give up and took the game with a bucket. With the three wins, Broughton is forth in the standings of the Cap-7 conference, with a conference record of 3-3 and an overall record of 11-6.

In the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational tournament over the winter break, the boys lost their first two games, but then won the final game over Cary. Though these games were out of conference, they were still tough losses. But with a win over Enloe after break, the Caps are hoping to get back on top.

The players this season are very strong and work together well to dominate the court. Junior Brock Young averages over 20 points a game and senior L.J. Dunn averages over 15. Other standouts of the team include seniors Kyle Felmet and Morris Geblum, and juniors William Aldridge and Sam Mason.

Jeff Ferrell, the head coach, is very excited about the season so far and is anxious to see the team’s results.

“It’s going to be very interesting this year to see how the season will turn out. There are usually two or three strong teams in our conference, but this year there are many more, which will make it tough on us,” Ferrell said.

Last season, the Caps won the conference tournament after finishing second in the regular season. After the conference play, the team went on to the state tournament, only to make it to the second round.

“In order to make the state playoffs, we have to place in the top three in our conference,” Ferrell said.

Wakefield, Sanderson, and Leesville Road have proven to be very strong teams that Broughton will face again this season after losing to all three. Both Leesville and Sanderson will come home to play, where the fans may help change the outcome with Broughton’s second meeting with the two teams.

“A new addition this year to the league is the wild card. The top four teams that don’t make states through conference can make states this way. So if we don’t finish top three, but have a strong overall record, we can still make states,” Ferrell said.

The Caps have proven to be a strong team in the first half of their season. If they can continue their success, the team could be in contention for a conference title repeat, and advance to the state playoffs.