Boys Basketball started the season on a high note with a 37-11 victory in the first game of their scrimmage against Pingree on Tuesday. “We did a great job pushing the ball off of rebounds and getting easy buckets when we could,” said Ryan Hartung ’12. Andover’s post graduates all had impressive performances in the scrimmage, especially point guards Gibby Graves ’11 and Ray Barry ’11, who saw their first in-game action in Andover uniforms on Tuesday. “Gibby and Ray did a great job setting an upbeat tempo for the whole game, which is how we want to play every single game,” said Hartung. “Even though Ray is injured and couldn’t play the entire game, he constantly got by his defender with his ease and either finished at the rim or kicked out to open shooters.” Andover will rely heavily on its six returners, namely sharpshooter Hartung, Thomas Palleschi ’12, and Captain Mark Hanson ’11. “Hartung will stretch the defense with his shooting ability and size, and Tom Palleschi will be a force inside just like he was last year,” said Hanson. As captain, Hanson will play a huge role in keeping team chemistry and confidence. “Whether it’s offering encouragement to teammates or leading by example on the court, I’ll try to do whatever it takes to lead the team to victory” said Hanson. The team as a whole will have to work very hard if it hopes to make up for the losses of powerful seniors who led last year’s team, especially Tom Hamel ’10 and Khalid McKaskill ’10. “All of us, even the new players, have built up such good relationships with each other as friends, so it will be easy to convert our off-court relationship into on-court chemistry,” said Palleschi. “The chemistry we’ve established with our 6 returners is too much for even Gelb to handle,” said Jay Dolan ’11. “We’ll also receive a big boost from our PGs and newcomers because we’ve been playing together practically all of fall term so everyone knows each other really well.” One of the only clear elements that the team needs to work on as of now is its shooting ability, which was slightly under par in Tuesday’s scrimmage. “We need to hit some more of our outside shots, as we were getting a lot of open looks just not converting against Pingree,” said Hartung. “However, our shooting will take care of itself and I’m confident we will be ready when the season starts.” With plenty of big and talented new players on its side, Andover basketball has a very good chance of a successful season this winter. Dolan said, “Honestly, I think this team is good enough to not only compete for the Class A title but even have a shot at winning it.” Andover will face a talented Cushing squad this Saturday at home at 3:45.
