The Quaker men’s basketball team came out strong with their best start in more than 30 years and opened their season with a 10-game winning streak, four of which were ODAC conference matches. A loss on Sunday against Virginia-Wesleyan ended the streak, but that didn’t stop the Quakers from setting a school record.

“The only team to be 10-1 eleven games into the season was the ’77-’78 team,” said Dave Walters, the sports information director. “But that team lost earlier on in their season.”

At this time last year, the Quakers were 4-7. When asked what he attributed the improvement to, Coach Tom Palombo said that the team went through a lot of trials last year, and the experiences helped them grow and mature as a team.

“Our guys are tremendously unselfish,” said Palombo.

“A few of us live very close together,” said Ben Strong, a junior, recipient of four Student-Athlete-of-the-Week Awards and a first-team All-Conference center. “So it really helps with the team chemistry outside of practice.”

“We’ve grown together, experienced all those losses my freshman year,” said Strong. “Because of that, we’ve gotten much more mature as a team.”

Walters says that the biggest game so far this season was the overtime win against Guilford’s rival school, Greensboro College, on Nov. 29 of last year. “They (Greensboro) have only lost once since that game. They were very athletic, and we had to rely on our experience and depth.”

The second biggest win was conference match at Hampden-Sydney on Dec.6. The last time the Quakers won at Hampden-Sydney’s gym was 1993.

The Quakers won the game against Emory and Henry on Saturday 130-114, bringing their record to 11-1. It was a high-intensity match right down to the end, with the Quakers pressing hard on offense to counter the Wasps’ 21 three-pointers.

How will they keep the momentum rolling through the rest of the season?

“Tom says ‘Get better each game one at a time,'” said Walters. “They still believe that, so if we keep focused on improving each game instead of stats, then we’ll be ready come conference time.”

“Keep doing the little things during practice,” Palombo said. “We’ve got good offense, but the little things come first.”

The Quakers will get their next chance to increase their win record with their game at Roanoke on Jan. 17 and again on Jan. 20 at home against Bridgewater.

“(I) love it,” said Strong on winning, after the Emory and Henry game. “We tasted it and we want more.