JAFFREY — It is rare to find a team that actually likes to play defense.

Let alone one that would rather hold an opponent to less than 40 points than score 80. But the Conant boys basketball team is anything but typical.

The Orioles may love to score as much as the next team, but for them, a made basket signifies so much more than just two more points on the scoreboard.

Because whenever the Orioles score, they can get right into the one thing that consistently wreaks havoc on the opposition — the full-court press.

“We score so we can play defense,” said senior captain Sean Martin.

The high octane, in-your-face approach to defense is the core of coach Eric Saucier’s system and the results speak for themselves.

The old saying — defense wins championships — goes a long way with this group and it is the main reason Conant is one win away from playing for a fifth straight Class M championship.

There aren’t many players who enjoy busting it on the defensive end, but Saucier has gotten his squad to buy in.

“I know as long as we play defense, we’ll be fine,” said Kemph Kim, a senior captain.

“Everyone is focused on one thing and that’s getting the ball back and we’re just working as a team, as one unit, and it’s what we love to do.”

The first four minutes of the first and third quarters is what Saucier stresses. And the way Conant can score, added to the defense, it is where the scoreboard tends to lean in the Orioles’ favor.

“That constant pressure just wears away at teams and they start to feel it in the third and fourth quarters and we’re still running and gunning,” Martin said.

The full court man-to-man press leaves point guards from around Class M trying to figure out how to beat it and none of them really has — at least with any kind of consistency.

“The whole point is to take the guard and their team out of their comfort zone,” Saucier said. “We just want to keep coming and coming.”

And while the press works quite a lot, there are times it doesn’t. But when teams are able to beat it, they still have to deal with Conant’s man-to-man half-court style of play.

“We take advantage of every little mistake,” said Martin. “One lazy pass, if you’re not playing attention for one second, we’ve got a steal and two points.”

What separates the Orioles from other teams around the state is just how hard they work. The team only practices for an hour and a half at a time, but there is no rest.

The players work from the moment they walk in the gym until the final buzzer sounds. Conant wants to outwork every team it plays and so far so good.

“Coach has done a really good job of getting us into shape,” Kim said. “I don’t think many coaches emphasize as much running up and down the court.”

The Orioles are 20-0 going into Saturday’s semifinal match-up with Mascoma, which got a good look at the defensive pressure when they traveled to Pratt Auditorium on Jan. 28 and left with a 68-42 loss, its first of the season.

But the Royals shouldn’t feel bad because they are not alone.

During their undefeated 18-game schedule, the Orioles allowed 715 points, which equates to a 39.72 points per game average.

“That’s a great number,” said Saucier about the points per game allowed. “But I look back at a couple games and I know we could have played better defense.”

There were eight games where they held opponents to 40 or fewer points and only twice did a team score 50 or more, the only two games Conant didn’t win by double digits.

“I want to keep it under 35, but 40 is the team goal,” Kim said. “If we get under 40, we’re content, but not too happy, but if it’s over it, we’re disappointed.”

In the two tournament games thus far, Conant has allowed 38 and 36 points, both below the average and the goal.

“A good thing and bad thing is that I’m never satisfied,” said Saucier. “But right now, it seems like we’re playing good defense.”

On the offensive side of the floor, the Orioles score at a rate of 64.44 points per game. On only three occasions did they score fewer than 60 points and during those games the margin of victory was still an average of 16.

“If you play defense, no matter how you play on offense, you stand a chance to win,” Martin said. “So whether we shoot 50 percent from the field or 20, if we play a good defensive game, we always have a chance to win.”

It takes a special group to believe in a defensive first philosophy, but judging by the results, this team does.

And it’s why they keep winning — every time they step on the court.

This story appears on Page 19 of the March 4 Ledger-Transcript.