Capitalizing on an offensive rebound from Captain Jake Howell ’14, Kene Adigwe ’14 drove to the hoop, and kissed the ball off the glass, capping off an Andover run in the second half. Adigwe’s layup on Monday brought Andover Boys Basketball within four points of Brooks after falling into a 15-point halftime deficit.
Despite the comeback, Andover never got closer than four points, as foul trouble and turnovers down the stretch led the team to a 58-50 loss.
In the plays preceding Adigwe’s layup, Sam Glazer ’15 knocked down a three-pointer, Brandon Michel ’14 converted a fast-break layup, and Adigwe sank a free throw. These plays forced Brooks to call two timeouts and turn over the ball several times.
Eric Alperin ’15 said, “It all started with our defense. We had active hands, we jumped passes, and [Michel] and [Adigwe] both did a really good job of pressuring the ball and creating turnovers. We finished well on the offensive end. We pushed the ball and got easy buckets.”
“At the end, we just let it slip. They were a really good team and they were really well-coached,” he continued.
Michel led the scoring charge with 18 points, with Adigwe not far behind with 15 points.
The Brooks game fell in between two games against Deerfield Academy. Last Friday, Andover travelled west to Deerfield, but a lack of focus and consistency led to a disappointing 55-47 loss.
“We didn’t play our game and we could have won. We just didn’t come ready to play,” said Germaine Wright ’15. “We really could have beaten those guys if we played like we usually do. It didn’t happen for us though.”
Andover kept the game close in the first half, but spoiled its chances of a win by forcing many of the plays.
“I think each of us were trying to make too many plays for ourselves, and we didn’t try to get others involved. We played them really tough in the first half, but in the second half, we didn’t really get in a flow on offense, and their shooters helped them break away,” said Alperin.
A bright spot for Andover in the loss was Michel’s performance, as he scored 29 points on three-of-three free throw shooting. Six of his points came from behind the arc.
On Wednesday, Andover got another shot at Deerfield, and after a strong ending to the first half, the players found themselves up by nine points at halftime, 26-17.
Andover used its experience from the first Deerfield game to help win the second game 49-42.
“We knew that they had a lot of good shooters, and we keyed on them. We told each other to play together and play defense together. We just needed to stop them from getting open looks, and that’s what gave us the halftime lead, and eventually, the game,” said Wright.
In the second half, Deerfield brought the game to within five points, but Michel again shone for Andover.
With two minutes left, leading by five, Michel drove to the hoop and despite being fouled, banked in a difficult floater. At the line, Michel missed his “and-1” free throw attempt but grabbed the offensive rebound. Deerfield proceeded to foul Michel. He subsequently drilled both free throws to put Andover up by eight and the game out of reach of Deerfield.
“We did a really good job of not forcing anything. The guards controlled the game really well. Sam [Glazer] made a lot of plays off the dribble. Andrew Hamel ’14 and Jake Howell ’14 both played really well too—both of them got a lot of boards and steals,” said Alperin.
Michel led the team in scoring for the third straight game, scoring 16 points, while Glazer had ten points.
Andover will play a 12-9 Exeter on Saturday. Andover will look to even its record to 10-10 for the season, and avenge a mid-season loss to Exeter from January.
