In a stretch of possessions early in the second half against Milton on Friday, Captain Khalid McCaskill ’10 stole the ball on the defensive end, and went coast to coast for the lay in. On the very next Milton possession, McCaskill stole the ball again and threw it down on the other end with an emphatic jam. These spectacular plays gave Andover momentum, as the team cruised to a 57-46 victory. McCaskill’s strong play early in the season has made him the ninth leading scorer in the area. He dominated the first half, taking high percentage shots that got Andover ahead early. “Khalid really showed the kind of player he is on Friday. He’s been playing great for us the past few games,” said Coach Modeste. In the second half, Andover came out ready to protect and expand on its already established lead. After his layup and dunk sequence, McCaskill continued to control the game both offensively and defensively in the second half . Tyler Bond ’10 was also a key contributor in the second half. After a couple missed threes, and zero points in the first half, Bond drained a total of five threes in the second half. “I was getting open looks. When Khalid penetrated it left me open in the corner consistently and I was just able to get a rhythm going,” said Bond. Ryan Hartung ’12 and Thomas Palleschi ’12 were also big contributors scoring twelve and ten points, respectively. Andover played away the next day at rival Deerfield, hoping to extend its winning streak to four, which they did with a 56-50 win. Said Coach Modeste, “It was a great road win for us. We played very well, especially defensively.” In a back -and-forth game, clutch steals and hustle plays helped Andover stay ahead in the end. Eddie Vohn Kuhn ’10 said, “We are not getting tired at the end of games like we did in the beginning of the season. And it always helps when you got a stud like Khalid running the show.” McCaskill continued his dominant play this game, dropping thirteen points. Hartung lead all scorers with sixteen points, followed by Palleschi, who had fourteen. On Wednesday, Cushing ended Andover’s winning streak, beating Andover 62-72 on Andover’s home court. Andover struggled in the first half of the game, only mustering eighteen points. Missed shots and poor shot selection proved to be a key component to the early troubles. “They pushed us out of our comfort zone a bit. They played tough defense on us that made us take shots we were not used to taking,” Coach Modeste said. Andover was consistently down by six or eight points for most of the game, and even when Cushing opened up a 16 point lead, Andover was quickly able to bring it back to within five. Andover made a strong effort in the last few minutes to take the lead, hitting clutch threes down the stretch. Cushing, however, was able to answer with shots of its own, hitting timely free throws down the stretch as well. Andover lost, 62-72. Steve Koenig ’10 scored twelve points in his first game back, after being injured with a broken nose, and McCaskill led all scorers with eighteen points, followed by Bond with thirteen and Hartung with ten. Bond said, “Lately we have been diving for loose balls and rebounding well, and when we get a few stops in a row it helps our momentum.” He continued, “We also double team aggressively and get a lot of key steals that way, which leads to fast breaks and easy baskets.” Andover will face Rivers on Friday.
