12/2 – Andover: 78, Greenwich Country Day: 58
12/3 – Andover: 73, Millbrook: 52
12/6 – Andover: 56, Holderness: 62
Record: 2-1
This past weekend, Andover Boys Basketball (2-1) opened its season at the Zero Gravity Prep Classic, taking the win against Greenwich Country Day and Millbrook School. On Wednesday, the team fell to Holderness by just six points.
Rashad McCormick PG’24 highlighted how impressive it was to defeat a team as challenging as Millbrook. Millbrook’s current record is 3-1, with its only loss being against Andover.
“The win against Millbrook was a very good team, solid win. Everybody contributed from the defense and offensive side. We beat that team by a big margin, and that was a very good thing,” said McCormick.
McCormick highlighted Xavier Abreu ’25’s performance. Despite being heavily guarded, he was able to significantly contribute to the score of the game, according to McCormick.
McCormick said, “He was shooting everything, he was very good that weekend. I think he finished for like 30 points that game. His shooting was unbelievable. He was getting double-team and face guarded. He fought through the contact and really fought well through it and still contributed.”
Cade Rutkoske ’26 emphasized the team’s hard work in practice and its optimism for the new season. He noted Coach Terrell Ivory’s (TI) investment in the team and his role in building the players’ confidence.
“Practices are going really well. Everybody has been going really hard in practice. I think everybody’s excited for the upcoming season and our upcoming home games… I mean, we have a lot of talent on that team. TI has said this himself, too, that it’s one of the deepest teams or if not the deepest teams talent wise that he’s seen in his 12 or something years of coaching here, so he’s really excited about the season. And we’re all excited about the season of the team and what we can do,” said Rutkoske.
McCormick emphasized the team’s drive and focus, whether it be in practice or in game.
McCormick said, “In practice, everybody is pretty locked in for the most part, everybody shows up, is attentive to all the plays that we run and other drills. Everybody is starting to learn where different spots on the courts are, run plays from. Everybody’s really good, and in the games, everybody’s just confident. Everybody’s playing with that chip on their shoulders. So I think a lot of people wanna prove that we’re a good team this year.”
While Andover was up at the end of the first half during Wednesday’s game, it ultimately fell to Holderness 56-62. Hunter Peabody ’27 noted the team’s struggle to play at an intense level during the game.
Peabody said, “We started off pretty slow. We made some good plays [at the beginning], and we ended up winning at the end of the half, but our energy just slowed down, and we stopped playing intense defense, and they came back, and they ended up winning.”
Despite the loss, Peabody highlighted the team’s impressive offensive play. He mentioned that the team was lacking in terms of defense and morale.
“If we came out with more energy and we played harder defense, that’s all we really needed. We looked fine on offense. It was really just the defensive side of the ball and less energy,” said Peabody.
Peabody commended the team for its impressive beginning to the season. After losing this past Wednesday by just 6 points, Andover is hopeful and determined to come back strong.
Peabody said, “We had an amazing first weekend. I mean, we had two 20 point wins, and we were outstanding. Tough loss today, but we’re ready to bounce back. But overall, we’ve looked very good to start the season two and one.”
Andover Boys Basketball will compete at the Scholar Roundball Classic against Blair Academy on Saturday.
