Brendan Conry an Asset for Millis Basketball

As a youngster growing up in Millis, Brendan Conry was a big soccer player. By the fifth grade, a good amount of his friends were playing basketball, and he decided to give the sport a try.
“I began playing basketball in the fifth grade and have been playing since,” Conry said. “Basketball was the thing that everyone was doing then, so I tried it out and found that I enjoyed it much more than soccer.”
Being of small stature, the Millis native was slated to play guard, a position he’s played since, although he has grown to 6 feet as a senior at Millis High School.
Playing Metro West basketball, Conry thought that he was ready for high school basketball, and when he entered the eighth grade, he tried out for the team. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the team and was forced to work hard if he was to give it a go in his freshman year. As a freshman, he earned a spot on the Millis basketball team, but it was bittersweet.
“I made the freshman team that year, but all of my friends were playing for the Junior Varsity team,” Conry said. “The game was much different than typical Metro West basketball, and I was playing with a bunch of different kids. High school basketball has you put in much more time with practice every day and multiple games, while Metro West, you practice twice a week and play only one game.”
Having to play with a bunch of athletes that he was not familiar with prior to the season, Conry worked extremely hard during the off season, going to the courts every free moment that he had to improve his shooting. He also took part in the school’s Gut Camp to get in shape. All his hard work paid off, and Conry found himself of the JV team with his friends his sophomore year.
Last year, as a junior, Conry made the jump to the Mohawks varsity squad.
“Varsity was so much faster than JV, especially as a guard, due to the decision making that I had to make much more quicker,” he said. “It was a challenge that took some time to get used to.”
Conry didn’t find himself having the best of seasons last winter, but when the playoffs came, he did find his game. Millis, which was the final team and the number 14 seed to get into the Division 4 playoffs, was squaring off against the number 3 seed in Assabet. Millis kept the game close the first half, but eventually lost 77-63.
“We really didn’t expect to win, their skill over took us in the second half, and they got the better of us,” Conry said. “I scored 14 or 15 points, having my best game of the season.”
Entering this his senior campaign with the Mohawks, Conry is hoping that Millis can improve upon last year’s performance in the tournament.
“Last year, the majority of us had minimal varsity experience, but now that we have a year under our belt, we’re ready,” he said. “Individually, I feel that I can go out and make the right decisions. It feels as though the game is much slower now that I’m used to the speed.”
Millis Coach Paul Adams has seen Conry make huge strides since he got the varsity level and knows that despite his early season struggles, he’ll be fine the rest of the season.
“Brendan does the little things that don’t show up on the state sheet. He’s a quiet leader by example and has matured as a player his two years with me,” the Millis Coach said. “This year already, he has improved his defense tremendously, where he is covering the opposition’s best player every night. Through the first six games, he’s having issues, but he is only one breakout game away from heating up.”