Reed Findlay ’18 rose up over his defender and hit a three-pointer to give Andover a 38-35 lead against Worcester Academy early in the second half. Findlay scored 16 points and shined in his first career start.
“Going into the game, I was determined to give it my best shot. I felt like I performed on both ends and with each shot I made, I was getting more and more confident. I just had a great time out there,” said Findlay.
The sharpshooting of Findlay and Eric Alperin ’15 were bright spots in Andover’s 78-53 loss to Worcester on Saturday.
Andover kept pace with the gifted Worcester team, and Alperin sunk two deep three-point field goals in the final minutes of the first half to gain Andover a 35-32 lead entering halftime.
The team started the second half playing together with strong defense and great ball movement, and after a bucket from Findlay, it seemed as though Andover was ready to pull away.
Nonetheless, the perennially strong Worcester team was undaunted. Its defensive scheme caused Andover players to become claustrophobic, and the game became a sequence of one-on-ones. Andover lacked the hustle and intensity that had kept the game close in the first half.
Andrew Reavis ’17 said, “We stopped moving the ball and they just pulled away.”
Eventually, Worcester’s lead increased to double digits, despite the team’s best efforts.
Reavis also offered a strong contribution, putting up nine points. In the game, he was 7-8 from the free-throw line, bringing his free-throw percentage to 92 percent over Andover’s past two games.
Despite the loss, the team was upbeat. Robbie Cerulle ’17 said, “We were playing with a bunch of guys injured and I really think that we went out there and competed well as a team.”
On Wednesday, Andover took on Tilton, a school that has sent multiple players to the NBA in recent years, including Nerlens Noel, the sixth overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.
The game was remarkably similar to Andover’s against Worcester. Andover played fantastic team basketball through the first half to keep the score close. Ultimately, however, the talented Tilton players were too much to handle.
Reavis was once again stellar, dropping nine points while pushing the ball up the court and getting to the line.
The team struggled to rebound in the second half, missing two of its key players, Jake Nelson ’15 and Kurtis Weber ’15.
Nick Forti ’15, said, “Rebounding was poor in the second half – they were getting a lot of second chances. They had some 6’5’’ guys that were killing us on the boards and it would have been nice to have [Weber] and [Nelson].”
Andover continued to allow multiple second-chance offence opportunities to Tilton and fell behind by a considerable deficit.
Forti had a great game offensively with a career-high 19 points and 3-4 shooting from three-point range..
Much like in the Worcester game, however, Andover started playing individual basketball in the second half and was overpowered by Tilton’s talent, eventually falling 82-56.
Coach Terrell Ivory ’00 said, “I think one of the things we did first of all is that we stopped playing team ball. Because we were close in the game, we felt like we could go one on one instead of moving the ball, which had worked for us in the first half. When we start going against these talented teams its tough –0 and we’re not going to win unless we play team ball.”
Andover will take on Thayer this Friday.
