Dylan Bronner ’23 and Diego Velez ’24 go for the rebound.
Diego Velez ’24 looks for an open teammate.
Last Saturday, Captain Colby Duggan ’23 threw down a dunk, tightening the gap between Andover Boys Basketball and Williston Northampton. The team ended up losing the game 58-62, but managed a victory against St. Paul’s on Wednesday. Andover’s record now stands at 11-8.
According to Isaiah Harris ’24, Duggan’s dunk motivated the team and boosted their energy during an important stretch of the game.
“I think it was a simple play for him. We call it ‘mizzou’ where he just comes off the screen and then he slips. It’s pretty much a play designed for him and then it led to the dunk. That was a big momentum changer for us because I think we were down at that moment,” said Harris.
Despite the energy in the building, Andover’s downfall during the game was getting off to a slow start, according to Harris. While the team was much improved in the second half, it proved to be too little too late.
“I’d say for the most part it was pretty good up until the beginning of the second half. We came off pretty lethargic, it was pretty lackadaisical and I think that affected us a lot,” said Harris.
In the win against St. Paul’s, Andover had a much stronger start to the game and held a lead going into the last minutes of the game. Despite this, Dylan Bronner ’23 said that the team performed at its best during the crucial moments of the game, the latter minutes of the game.
“I think finishing out the game [is important]. We were up and we kind of started to give it away, but we stayed solid and ended up winning. I think we did a great job maintaining our lead during the last couple minutes of the game,” said Bronner.
According to Harris, there is still plenty of room for improvement on the offensive end of the floor. He feels that the key to success for the team is through movement both with and without the ball.
Harris said, “I’d say offensively for sure [we need to improve], just moving the ball and making the right cuts. [Head Coach Terrell Ivory ’00] also implemented a few new plays that we executed very well. On the defensive end, I’d say we have to work a lot harder on forcing our man to the baseline and not letting them go middle and also not leaving shooters open.”
Coming up on its final three games of the season, Bronner is confident that Andover will close out the season in a positive way.
“It was really great. This was a big game against a school we needed to beat. Going through this long-end stretch of a season. We only got a couple games left and this is win number one,” said Bronner.
Andover will play against Belmont Hill on Saturday and Deerfield on Wednesday.
