Old Rochester Regional boys basketball coach Steve Carvalho says the Bulldogs are hungry.

“There’s no easy outs,” Carvalho says. “We have to outwork and outhustle the others. We have some good pieces in place.”

Those pieces include veteran seniors Mix Risch, Matt Teefy and Forrest Cote. With these three (and five other returning seniors) Carvalho believes ORR has the experience and the discipline to improve over last season’s 8-12 record.

A few things plagued the Bulldogs last year: injuries, last-second losses. Being in a competitive league doesn’t help either. But Carvalho believes the team has learned from the past.

“Max is a good athlete and has good skills,” Carvalho says. “Teefy averaged double figures a game. Forrest is our inside engine. With the intensity of a tough game in a loud gym, they all have to be innovative and think on their toes. We can do this.”

Cote, a guard, says last year was a disappointment, but things will turn around.

“We didn’t come through with some of the guards and we didn’t make the tournaments,” Cote says. “But we have good senior leadership. That will be the key point.”

Risch, a six-foot-six forward/center, agrees.

“A few close games didn’t go our way,” he says. “The experience helps. And we’ve constantly been improving.”

Teefy, a guard/forward, says the biggest component is the relationships formed between the players.

“Some of us have been playing together since seventh grade,” he says. “We have a good feel for each other’s game and can adapt to changes.”

Carvalho says rivalry games with Apponequet, Wareham and Fairhaven will be big factors to the team’s morale.

“We have to play hard, smart and together,” he says. “We want to outrun the teams. And, most importantly, we want to have fun playing high school basketball. Being successful makes that happen.”