Saturday 12/9 – Andover: 66, Blair: 75
On Saturday, Boys Basketball played away at the Scholar Roundball Classic against Blair Academy (Blair). While the team was up by eight points with seven minutes left in the game, it ultimately fell short.
Following a six point loss last Wednesday against Holderness, Head Coach Terrell Ivory ’00 (TI) shared motivational advice with the team, prior to the game against Blair. Cade Rutkoske ’26 noted how his guidance helped the team keep a positive outlook going into the game.
Rutkoske said, “We had a really bad loss against Holderness on Wednesday, and one of the things our coach, TI, mentioned was the concept that, ‘Who we are today is not who we are tomorrow,’ and who we were at that game was not who we are as a team. That helped us realize that if we played hard, we had a solid chance against Blair.”
Additionally, Rutkoske recalled the team’s preparation prior to the Blair game. Andover focused on improving its offense and swinging the ball around more. By playing three-on-three, players scrimmaged under pressure and worked on its defense.
“We knew that Blair academy were really good on-ball defenders. They are an aggressive, quick, and athletic team and one of the main things we worked on in Thursday and Friday practices was doing a lot of three-on-three drills with limited dribbles. That helped us work on our offense and specifically swinging the ball and building good habits of setting screens, and screening away from teammates and cutting,” said Rutkoske.
Rashad McCormick PG’24 noted the competitive atmosphere drove Andover into performing with confidence and determination. Blair Academy ended its 2022-23 season with a 14-4 record, falling to St. Benedict’s in the final round of the Prep A Tournament. Andover went into the tournament, prepared for a demanding matchup.
McCormick said, “It’s always fun playing against a strong team because it hypes everyone up. It was an intense and fun game to be a part of. The energy of the whole team was really good.”
Blair holds a record of 7-1 this season, Hunter Peabody ’27 noted that Andover played well against such a talented team, reflecting on how well the team will be performing this season. The game showed the team its potential, motivating it for future matchups.
Peabody said, “This is definitely the best team we’ve played, and probably the best teams we will play, so the fact that we played them so well will give us motivation that we can beat any team in the league… The biggest thing is that we proved to ourselves that we are a very good team, and we can go up against the best teams, and there are no teams we feel like we can’t beat, which is really important.”
Andover played with aggression and power against Blair, setting it up for its next game. Rutkoske pointed out that the team will capitalize on areas of improvement and focus on fluid offensive and defensive plays.
Rutkoske said “We started off the season very strong with two wins so moving forward the first goal is obviously to win, but another big thing is unselfishness and being on the same page. And part of that comes from practice and going over plays and making sure everyone knows what to do, while comfortable in their role. We have four practices before Suffield, so I think we will be able to prepare for that game.”
Boys Basketball will travel to Suffield Academy on Friday.
