Post-graduate (PG) Derrick Herrick ’18 stole the ball and ran down the floor on a fastbreak to throw down a thunderous one-handed dunk against Rivers last Friday. Despite additional strong efforts like this one, Andover Boys Basketball suffered a 75-66 loss in the matchup alongside three more deficits against Holderness last Wednesday, Kimball Union last Sunday, and St. Andrews this Wednesday. Andover’s season record currently stands at 0-5.
In its game against Kimball Union, the team displayed a high level of play despite the unfavorable outcome, according to Head Coach Terrell Ivory ’00.
Coach Ivory said, “The team from Sunday was from the Double-A level, and although we lost with 17 points difference, we were in the game the whole time.”
“Our league is super tough. There are really good teams — there is even a Triple-A level team. The schedule is maybe a bit too hard, but playing competitive games put the kids in a position of learning how to improve and get better each time,” continued Coach Ivory.
On top of difficult matchups against teams from higher divisions, Andover has suffered from several injuries of key players.
Coach Ivory added, “We have a lot of injuries on the team right now, which is not helping the boys at all. Matteo [Whelton ’20], despite playing Sunday’s game, hurt his ankle right before. Hogan [Linzy ’19] is not playing because he dislocated his shoulder, and Jason [Reynolds ’18], one of the best players, hasn’t been able to play in the whole season yet because he has pneumonia. He came to the tryouts, but when we came back from break he was sick,” continued Coach Ivory.
PG Max Beati ’18 said, “We are losing every single game; probably one of the main reasons is that we don’t have many players right now. I think that we will improve a lot and come back healthier after the break, and we will take off because [up] until now the schedule [has been] so hard.”
Despite their losses, Coach Ivory focuses on the improvement of the team, rather than its results.
“How we compete and get better on a daily basis are things [that are] really important to me, and I am really proud of the progress they have made. The boys did really well against awesome teams in the tournament, [which was] a great chance for them to show off in front of college coaches. Even though we did not win, a lot of positive things came out of the weekend,” said Coach Ivory.
Andover looks to win its first game against Choate this Friday, and the team believes it has been playing below its potential so far, according to Herrick.
“We have been playing really good teams until now, but we have time during the break to heal, improve and rethink our goals. We shouldn’t be [0-5] right now, but I believe that we don’t have to worry that much yet and keep our positive attitude,” said Herrick.
