After a tough 65-56 loss this Saturday against Millbrook, Boys Basketball increased its motivation going into its Wednesday game. The team battled for a 58-48 win against Suffield Academy.
Despite the loss on Saturday, Head Coach Terell Ivory ’00 mentioned the partial success that the team had on offense. Nonetheless, Ivory noted that their offensive efforts were not backed by a strong defensive presence, thus bringing the team to face a loss.
“I think we did okay offensively. We did a pretty good job of moving the ball and sharing the ball. Defensively, we really struggled. We tried to speed up the other team and pressure the ball and we did that a little bit. In basketball, the person guarding the ball has to do a good job, but the people off the ball have to be able to guard the person they are guarding and see the ball and help,” said Ivory.
Robbie Nyamwaya ’24 highlighted the team’s persistence throughout the challenging moments in the game against Millbrook. Nyamwaya believes that despite the team’s struggles, it continued to put full effort into each minute of the game.
Nyamwaya said, “I think we definitely dealt with adversity well. There were times where the other team was leading or we were kind of down, but we still fought our way back into the game. We kept it a close game until the end.”
Similarly to Nyamwaya, Captain Colby Duggan ’23 emphasized the team’s efforts throughout its Saturday game. However, he added that the team’s shooting efforts can be improved throughout the season.
Duggan said, “I think we played really hard, we didn’t necessarily make shots that we should have, but I think we played really hard and worked really hard. We didn’t win, but I think we can be proud of our effort, but there’s a lot to improve on.”
Luke Gallo ’25 highlighted the chemistry the team had during Wednesday’s game against Suffield, which helped gain the win. To prepare for the game, the team studied the opponent’s tactics in order to plan the best approaches.
Gallo said, “Our strength was that we played very hard with very good effort. We’re definitely growing as a team and have good energy. We went through a lot of film and studied the other team’s habits. We were playing hard in practice and practicing defense against their plays and practicing offense against their defense, so we felt prepared.”
Andover Boys Basketball will face The Newman School at the BasketBull Hoopfest on Friday.