Suffering yet another painful loss to a worthy team, Andover Boys Varsity Basketball played a decent game Wednesday, but falling nine points short, extended their losing streak to two games. Returning from the long weekend, the boys went onto the court ready to win the game. But after allowing the Big Blue to tie up the score in the last few minutes, Worchester (14-6) went on to defeat visiting Andover 71-62. The Boys started out strong at the beginning of the game but quickly fell behind. Andover reverted back to some of its old habits that had caused problems earlier in the season: missing easy shots and letting opposing players to intimidate them, Coach Leon Modeste commented, “We definitely short armed our shots, meaning that we shot too quickly without thinking about other options first. Worcester had many things going for them: a great record, a few post graduates and two big guys – 6’10” and 6’8. I think the main problem with our performance was that our players were nervous about the tall boys blocking our shots so we hesitated too long to shoot.” With a frustrating halftime score of 31-23 Worcester, the Andover boys made a conscious decision to work harder in the second half. “None of us wanted to lose,” Adam Crabtree ’04 said. “We decided that if we were going to have a chance at a win, we needed to stop messing up easy plays and work together as a team instead.” Despite an early run in the second half by Worcester, which left Andover down by 12 points, the Boys in Blue played strongly enough to tie the game with five minutes left. Defensively they played tough, and offensively the team concentrated on making clean shots. “In the last fifteen minutes of the game, the kids played their hearts out. It was disappointing to see the game end like it did,” said Coach Mo. The final measure of victory, [nine points], was not indicative of the game because Andover was forced to foul the opposing team with the hope of getting the ball back, in turn allowing them to score additional points.” “We played alright, but not as well as I would have wanted to in the first half. If we had actually made our shots, the score would have been in our favor by at least five,” said Captain Tyler Simms ’04. “The team did pull together in the second half and made up a 12-point difference in just six minutes. It was still disappointing that we could not overcome our mediocre first half and end up with a win. Overall, we played well enough to be in the game but not well enough to win it.” Simms had seven assists, and Crabtree and Joey Lokitis ’06 grabbed seven and six rebounds, respectively. Lokitis lead the team in scoring with 22 points, and Crabtree followed closely with 19 points. Going from playing cluster at the beginning of the season to playing varsity basketball for the first time, Brent Vale ’04 scored six points. “Vale was tearing up the court whenever I watched a cluster practice, and he really impressed me. We were soft in the middle with injuries and other setbacks, so I brought him onto the team. Vale has really helped us out there,” Coach Mo explained. “Cluster has become a feeder system for my team,” he added with a smile. Looking into the future, Andover has a challenging game on Friday against NMH, whom they previously lost to by 40 points. To be successful, Coach Mo says his team needs to shrink the game by getting the ball, taking a deep breath, and slowing the pace down. He calls the team a shooting club, not a running one; therefore, he does not encourage his players to make quick run outs, especially against teams with as much height as NMH has. “I will easily pass up a lay up for a three [point shot] if we are micromanaging every possession we have of the ball. Mentally, the game will be difficult. But we are a different team this time around and I have high hopes for what may come from the upcoming game,” said Coach Mo. He continued, “I feel bad that we keep losing, but at least we are losing against formidable foes. The losing gets old, but my boys have had a tremendous attitude through everything. We have played our final away game and our shooting is remarkably better at home than on the road. If the kids stay on top of their game and focus on improving our weak spots, I think our team has a definite chance of an upset on Friday.”
