HANOVER — The third quarter concluded and Ben Davis crouched in front of his seated starters on the Hanover High boys basketball bench. The winless Bears led visiting Bow by six points last week and there was optimism in the air that the hosts would get off the schneid.

“We’re where we want to be,” Davis told his troops.

Fifteen minutes later, the Bears no longer occupied that figurative location. Beaten by five points, they slouched and slumped towards their locker room in silence. Seven games. Seven defeats. No fun.

Down the hall, Davis, 38, sat in the office he occupies each day as Hanover’s assistant athletic director. He’s working his first school year in both jobs, although he has extensive experience in college basketball. The defeat didn’t sit well, but neither did it crush him.

“We’ve got to learn from this so the next time around, when we’re in that situation, we’re confident and execute,” Davis said. “You’re not going to be able to execute well in late-game situations if you don’t have experience playing in them.”

Hanover graduated nine seniors and lost all its starters after last season, followed by the resignation of 22-year coach Tim Winslow. It was evident the Bears, whose current roster features four freshmen, were a true reclamation project and Winslow thought the challenge better suited a younger man.

Hanover has long been known as a hockey town in the winter, and its skiing and track programs also siphon off athletes at a school where declining enrollment makes it one of the smallest in NHIAA Division II.

Enter Davis, who’d spent the last two years as assistant athletic director and basketball coach at St. Johnsbury (Vt.) Academy, taking the Hilltoppers to the state semifinals last season. Davis’ wife, Steph, works locally at Dartmouth Health and they have two young children.

The couple endured Ben’s commutes to Massachusetts and St. Johnsbury while living in Hartford during the previous nine years, so a job across the Connecticut River looked like heaven to the Hartford residents.

“Even the long days don’t feel that long, because at least I get to go home at night and see the kids in the mornings,” said Davis, who often slept on an air mattress in his office during four years as head coach at NCAA Division III Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass.

That school closed in 2018, by which time Davis was director of men’s basketball operations at Dartmouth College.

A couple of years in that position gave Davis some Ivy League experience but also convinced him the time demanded by college coaching was incompatible with his and his wife’s family goals. Now he’s fully local and focused on making the Bears more than just competitive.

“He’s passionate and he prepares us for things I’d never even thought about before,” said senior Augie Krawitt, who was on the varsity in a reserve role last winter. “It’s really important what he’s doing for the program and how he’s going to build it.”

Davis, a 2006 graduate of Massachusetts’ Wheaton College, assisted current Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin at nearby Stonehill College from 2009-12, helping the Skyhawks reach the 2012 NCAA Division II semifinals. Two years as an assistant at Division I Siena followed and then came Mount Ida, where Davis was named Great Northeast Athletic Conference coach of the year.

Hanover, now 0-8, may be headed towards its fewest number of victories in recent memory, but the man at its helm is still young, a teacher at heart and vastly experienced in the game. The baby Bears are receiving college-level scouting, video dissection and coaching from a fresh-faced master.

Said freshman Roy Lucas: “Every single day, there’s a little nugget you learn and that you can use in games. It’s super special that he’s here and we’re really lucky.”

Davis doesn’t yell, but he’s intense enough during games that he often encroaches on the court by four or five feet while action is underway. When back on the sideline, he’s tends to assume a hands-on-knees stance akin to a third baseman awaiting a pitch. White notepaper juts from a back pocket of Davis’ khaki pants and he deploys a wide range of facial expressions, his chin dropping suddenly to his chest when Hanover’s fortunes flag.

The Bears start freshmen at point guard and in the post, an almost-guaranteed recipe for struggles in the standings. The former is Ryan McLaughlin, David’s son, whose potential and immaturity are both crystal clear. Able to drive the lane, although not always to finish, the lanky McLaughlin carries the difficult burden of needing to be not only his team’s playmaker, but also one of its primary scorers, averaging 15 points per game.

“The game is slowing down for him a little bit in knowing when he should drive to pass and when he should drive to score,” said Davis, who’s also counseled McLaughlin about making fewer complaints to the referees. “He doesn’t have to carry the team. We just want him to go out there and make the right play.”

Classmate Jaysen Oriol is built like a refrigerator but displays surprising athleticism. A football lineman, he’s been something of a revelation under the hoop.

“He’s got really good quickness and a burst of speed you wouldn’t expect,” Davis said. “Any time he can face and attack the basket we want him to do that. In the open court he can hit another gear and it’s pretty impressive.”

Turnovers, poor shot selection and a lack of rebounding continually plague the diminutive Bears, who hope that playing some of the division’s tougher foes during the season’s first half means they’ll experience more future success. Hanover visits one-win Sanborn on Friday and hosts arch-rival Lebanon (3-5) on Jan. 26.

“It hurts all of us to lose, no matter who we’re playing,” Krawitt said. “But we know that good things will come.”

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

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