DARTMOUTH — Coming off the heels of its first regular season win against Dartmouth on December 16, the Old Rochester Regional boys basketball team is still working to find its place.

After opening the season with a 15-point loss to Bishop Stang, the Bulldogs trailed Dartmouth by five points at the end of the first quarter at 8-13, but the team pulled ahead in the second quarter, closing out the half up by one point at 26-25.

The Indians responded with an offensive push in the third quarter, holding a nine-point lead, but the Bulldogs ended it up 44-42. With several fourth quarter ties, the Bulldogs finished with a 62-58 win.

For head coach Steve Carvalho, the win represents work the team has done to improve since last season, in particular avoiding a high number of turnovers.

“The big thing was figuring out the turnovers – we had 14 turnovers [in the first half,]” Carvalho said. “I was a little worried about that because it hurt us last year, but we had worked on it.”

Carvalho still has work to do refining the team. This early in the season, he is trying to pinpoint exactly where each player fits in, and is still adjusting player rotation. He did credit the win over Dartmouth to valuable contribution from junior Bennett Fox, senior Mat Valles and senior Russell Noonan.

“We’re in a position where we are still trying to find our identity,” Carvalho said. “We’re trying to find who has the fortitude, heart and, hustle.”

Carvalho is already preparing for the team’s first league matchup against Seekonk on December 20.

“We’re going to take it one game at a time and we will be looking at film,” Carvalho said.