FALMOUTH — Two Coynes are better than one.
The Falmouth High boys’ basketball team is finding that out this season. A year ago the Yachtsmen had only one of the brothers, Colin Coyne, for the entire season. Thomas Coyne broke his foot in a final AAU fall league game the day before preseason practice and didn’t return until late January.
Still, Falmouth, led by all-state player Jack Simonds, now playing for Bowdoin College, made it to the Western Class A final.
This season, now in Class A South, the Yachtsmen (4-0) hope to win the state championship. The Coynes are doing their part. The brothers are starting together full-time for the first time in their varsity careers.
“It’s the first and probably the last time,” said Colin, 16, a junior.
Thomas, 17, a senior, recently decided to attend Bates College. Colin said he’s just beginning to look at schools.
“I’ll have a better idea where I’m going by next spring,” he said.
Through four games, Thomas is averaging 31.1 points per game and Colin is averaging 17.1. Despite missing most of last season, Thomas has a good chance to score 1,000 points for his career; he has 782. With more than a year and a half left, Colin has 465 points.
As a freshman, Thomas came off the bench as Falmouth won a Class B state title. The next season Colin joined the team and came off the bench with Thomas as a starter. Thomas averaged 18.7 points as a sophomore and scored 30 in a loss to Bonny Eagle in the regional semifinals.
Colin totaled 60 points as a freshman; then came last season and the injury to Thomas. The younger Coyne responded by averaging 14.6 points and three assists per game.
“Colin had to learn under fire,” said Coach Dave Halligan. “He had a lot more to do than he probably figured.”
Halligan said the Coynes are interchangeable on the floor.
“They can play both point guard or off-guard. They play off one another. If Thomas is hot, Colin will feed him and if Colin is hot, Thomas will feed him. If one player is double-teamed, the other should be open.
“They have a sixth sense. They’ve played so much basketball together that they know where the other is on the court. Thomas and Colin are students of the game. We have some younger players on the team who they help.”
The brothers are outstanding shooters. In four games Thomas has made 15 3-pointers and Colin has nine. A year ago the younger Coyne sank 45 3-pointers. As a sophomore, his last full season, Thomas made 62. To be top shooters, both brothers have spent countless time shooting in the gym. Their goal is to put up 500 shots a day.
“There are gyms all around. We’ll shoot at the middle school, the high school and at Jack Simonds’ house, which has an inside court. I’ll rebound for him, he’ll rebound for me,” said Thomas.
The brothers also work on their shooting and other parts of their game with Zach O’Brien of Next Level Athletics, a company that combines basketball training with strength and conditioning drills, and Falmouth assistant coach Nick Farrell. They also credit their AAU teams with elevating their games. Thomas played with the MBR team and Colin with Next Level.
“We’ve played in Louisville, Kentucky, and all over New England,” said Thomas. “We play against some of the best players in the country. It definitely prepares you well for the season.”
The older Coyne stopped playing football and baseball in the seventh grade to concentrate on basketball.
“Ever since I was a little kid, basketball has been my favorite sport,” said Thomas. “With AAU, it can be a year- round sport. Baseball got in the way during the spring and summer. The end of the summer and the beginning of the fall is when I do a lot of work on my shooting and that’s when football starts. It always seemed to me that when basketball season began, the football players were a little behind.”
Colin stopped playing football in the seventh grade but continued with baseball.
“Baseball might be my best sport,” he said. “I would like to play both sports in college. It gives me a break from basketball.”
Their father, Tom Coyne, was a three-sport standout for Portland High in the mid-1980s. He feels his sons’ personalities are more alike than different with one exception.
“Thomas doesn’t get too high or too low. Colin is more emotional,” he said. “If Thomas has a bad game, he shrugs it off. It stays with Colin a little longer. They’re both passionate about putting in the work.”
Former Falmouth basketball all-stater Stefano Mancini and 2014 Maine Sunday Telegram girls’ soccer player of the Year, Cassie Symonds of Windham, are cousins of Thomas and Colin. The Coynes’ younger brother, Brady, is in the sixth grade, and an aspiring basketball and baseball player.
As brothers, Thomas and Colin definitely had their tiffs growing up. Sixteen months older, Thomas usually got the better of his brother.
“We definitely had some battles back in the day. Some kids don’t have that. It’s helped us,” said Colin.
The old brotherly battles are long over and they’re on the same page now. There’s no jealously in who scores or how much.
“We don’t care who scores,” said Thomas, “as long as we win.”
And Falmouth is winning.
“The goal every year is to win a state title,” said Thomas.
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