Father knows best at the Quinn family reunion

Montville — Their sideline mannerisms were strikingly similar.

St. Thomas More coach Jere Quinn and son Matt, the Winchendon School coach, both intensely paced the sidelines, barking instructions, Saturday afternoon.

Their teams also adopted their personalities, playing with the energy and enthusiasm.

The difference between the programs is that St. Thomas More simply possesses more talent right now and it showed, winning 85-51.

"It's very difficult coaching against your son," said Jere who's won both meetings in the Quinn Family Reunion game. "Matt had a very difficult job today because I think his kids got too keyed up for the game.

"… The kids love playing for Matt. And Matt loves coaching the kids. They want to come down here and play better than they typically do. Historically, the St. Thomas More gym is not the place that you want to try to do that. Our kids have been pretty good in our gym."

Historically, St. Thomas More has been pretty darn good. Last year the Chancellors won the National Prep Tournament championship.

In his 34th year at St. Thomas More, Quinn remains as passionate as ever. The Chancellors are embracing Quinn's team-first philosophy that has made his basketball program so successful over the years.

In Saturday's game, the Chancellors (8-0) played unselfish, passing around the scoring baton. Six different players scored eight or more points. Torin Childs-Harris of New London had a team-high 13 points and Ky Howard added 12 points.

"It's a deep team and they have a lot of bodies, and we saw all of them," Matt said. "He's doing a great job, which he always does. They play well together and seem to enjoy playing with each other."

The Chancellors roared to a 59-24 halftime lead and continued to maintain a comfortable lead as Quinn rotated players in and out of the lineup.

"We have a real nice group of kids," Quinn said. "What I tell our guys is we really have a nine or 10 man starting rotation. Right now, we have Torin, Rodney Sanders and Barrington Stevens coming in off the bench. They're supposed to pick up the intensity, and they're easily starters.

"We're just pretty good."

St. Thomas More also is blessed with quickness. The Chancellors have a lethal mix of fearless penetrators and dangerous perimeter shooters. Childs-Harris, an athletic 6-foot-3 guard, showed off his range, sinking three three-pointers.

Childs-Harris is embracing the Quinn Way.

"On this team, we're not worried about points," Childs-Harris said. "We're more worried about playing defense, getting back and working as a team. We're worried about team effort."

It's no surprise the younger Quinn preaches a similar philosophy at Winchendon (3-7), which is off to a tough start due in part to a brutal early season schedule.

Even as the deficit grew in the second half, Winchendon kept hustling. It also kept misfiring.

"We keep getting better, but we have a ways to go," Matt said. "We'll keep working. I have good kids that are buying into it."

This was one loss that Matt could shake off. Growing up, he spent countless hours in the St. Thomas More gym and served on his father's staff for two years before beginning his head coaching career at Winchendon last season.

The Quinn family headed to a post-game party where the subject of basketball just might come up a few times.

Matt already is looking forward to coming back next year.

"I absolutely love coming back," Matt said. "I grew up here. I spent so many hours in that gym. Coming back here is a blast."

g.keefe@theday.com