After starting the game playing right alongside Thayer, Andover drained three-pointer after three-pointer in the second half to pull away for the 70-52 win. Ryan Hartung ’12, Steve Koenig ’10 and Tyler Bond ’10 lit up the scoreboard with their performances from behind the arc. Andover and Thayer went back and forth the entire first half. Despite a lot of missed shots by Andover’s three point shooters and a few untimely turnovers, the team ended the half up by one, with a score of 28-27. “We didn’t really play as well as we could have. But we were still able to hang in there, and stay ahead,” Brendan O’Connell ’13 said. Andover came out firing in the second half, hitting three point shot after three point shot to steal the lead. “We got the ball to the big guys in the middle and they were able to make some great passes to Bond and me on the wings to set us up for open threes,” Hartung said. Hartung and Bond combined for five threes and Koenig drained three of his own from behind the arc. To put the game away, Hartung scored 10 consecutive points for Andover towards the end of the half. Andover’s paired its impressive offense to equally strong defense. Hartung said, “We were able to control the glass and make quick outlets to the wing and scored most of our points on fast breaks, instead of setting up an offense and slowing the game down.” Coach Modeste said, “We learned that we have to come out with energy every game, and that every possession counts.” Hartung led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Co-Captain Khalid McCaskill ’10 and Koenig with 12 each, and Bond and Thomas Palleschi ‘12 added 10 apiece. Palleschi tacked on 10 rebounds to complete the double-double. On Saturday, Andover headed to Nobles, where the team suffered an unexpected 58-52 loss. “We went into the game pretty confident because of our good win against Thayer, and we were pretty confident that we could beat Nobles easily,” O’Connell said. Andover lost its fire from the Taft game, allowing Nobles to cruise to a 22-4 lead to start the game. “We dug ourselves into a pretty hole early, and we just couldn’t get ourselves out of it,” Coach Modeste said. Andover came to life in the second half and out-scored Nobles 32-26. However, the late game surge was not enough, and the team ultimately came up short, 52-58. Andover has four games remaining in the regular seasoon. The team looks to get back on the winning track when it faces Brooks next Thursday at home.
