SHARON — The pavement on the Sharon Academy’s lengthy and steep driveway is cracked, potholed and warped. There’s a dip severe enough to be marked with orange cones, and woe be the driver who overlooks them and bottoms out in a spray of sparks.

The Phoenix boys basketball team? It too, appears to be facing a rough road this winter.

Sharon lost to visiting Mill River, 60-23, on Saturday and fell to 0-3 this season. The undefeated Phoenix won the program’s lone state title in 2018 but have gone 32-64 since, including 6-46 the past four seasons.

The hosts competed with six players Saturday, including eighth-grader Johannis Hinman, and trailed by 12 points at halftime.

Senior forward Jack Doris was absent for family reasons, but those are all the boy hoopsters available in a school with roughly 100 students, down about 20 during the past decade, estimated athletic director Grayson Levy. Sharon is a school-choice town, and those inclined to play basketball can select the better likes of Hartford, Woodstock or White River Valley.

“Some players have been picked off, but we’re trying to change that,” said Ben Lacaillade, Sharon’s first-year coach and the program’s fourth in as many years. “We’re trying to show younger kids that we’re developing again, that they can stay here.”

Junior point guard Daniel Piasecki led the hosts with eight points on Saturday, and although he’s clearly still learning to run the show, has a relatively long history with the Phoenix. The son of a TSA teacher, Piasecki spent countless hours hanging around school after classes let out, looking up to Sharon squads that went 98-37 between the 2013-14 and 2018-19 seasons.

“I’ve practiced with the teams here since I was about 11,” said the Randolph resident, whose mother teaches at the school. “I remember going to the (Barre Auditorium) to see them in the playoffs. I was kind of the water boy and looked up to those guys. It was awesome.”

Sharon’s girls basketball program was restarted on the JV level the past couple of seasons by Lacaillade’s wife, Jen Tewksbury, and their daughter, junior point guard Ava Lacaillade. It’s back to varsity status this winter, and there’s hope the two teams can rise together.

TSA’s boys had good flashes against Mill River but their lack of depth and resulting fatigue, combined with 21 turnovers and some ice-cold shooting, meant the contest’s outcome was never in doubt. Senior center Joey Thibodeau slammed the ball violently into the floor after a fourth-quarter whistle and spent the remainder of the game sitting behind Ben Lacaillade.

“These games are our first chance to play five-on-five, so we tend to start slowly and then get more comfortable as we go,” said the coach who, like his wife, won a basketball state title at Randolph High during the 1990s. “We don’t have a bench, so it can get frustrating.”

Lacaillade said his roster features three veteran players and three who started playing basketball last year. The gap can be problematic.

“It’s a tough mix, trying to teach some kids the game when others already have that knowledge,” said the coach, who owns and operates a property management business. “How do I catch some of them up without the others becoming disinterested? Then we get in games and the newcomers are trying to think and play, so they’re a second late and things tend to not work.

“We’re definitely going through some learning pains, but I think we’ll see gains later in the season.”

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.