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Perry closes door on North Andover

Friday, February, 06 By Jeff Hamrick

NORTH ANDOVER — In a game heavy on star power, it was E.J. Perry IV who turned hero with a prayer of a shot.

With the shot clock winding down and leading by one, the Andover sophomore drove the right side of the paint with Wabissa Bede draped on his left arm. Perry managed to scoop up a lay-up attempt that trickled over the front of the rim with 18 seconds remaining for the game's final points in the Warriors' 49-46 victory over North Andover in a packed Crozier Fieldhouse.

"We came out of the break and we tried to get it to Dave (Giribaldi)," said Perry, who seconds earlier had made a pair of free throws for the lead. "He couldn't get it ... so we went screen and roll. I got into Wabissa's body, but he's a great defender.

"I just got it up on the rim, and I was hoping that Connor (Merinder) could come up with another offensive rebound because he's been doing it all year. But it just happened to roll in."

Although the victory was not as dominant as Andover's 76-61 win three weeks ago, it was enough for the Warriors (13-3 overall, 10-2 conference) to open a two-game lead over the Scarlet Knights (8-7, 8-4) and clinch at least a tie for the MVC title. But it didn't come easy, as the game featured seven ties and eight lead changes, including four in the final quarter.

"You have to earn everything in the Merrimack Valley," said Andover coach David Fazio, whose squad has conference games remaining with Lawrence and Central Catholic. "But we still have a lot of worries. We won the league title tonight, and now we have to decide if we want to share it with anybody or own it all by ourselves."

Andover, which led by two entering the fourth, used a couple three pointers by sixth man Jonathan Rodriguez to open a 42-36 lead midway through the stanza. But the Knights quickly clawed back with threes from Robert Couyoumjian and Bede in the fourth. And when Ryan Good nailed a jumper in the paint, NA had its first lead since midway through the second.

Rodriguez, who had 12 points off the bench, nailed his fourth three of the game moments later, but was answered by Bede's driving lay-up that maintained the Knights' one-point lead with 1:17 left.

Perry then nailed the freee throws to give Andover the lead for good 47-46 with 75 seconds left.

"We watched film the past two days and just said we can't give up 76 to a team like that," North Andover coach Paul Tanglis said, referring to the previous Andover loss. "We worked on getting back on defense ... and our defense kept us in the game. So, we kept ourselves in it to the end of the game, but we were choppy offensively."

A big reason for that was Andover's defensive philosophy, changing looks often while trying to control Bede, who entered averaging an area-best 29 points. The Warriors used everything from man to a box-and-one and a triangle-and-two with several straight zones thrown in for good measure.

All that change held Bede below his average, but the junior still finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting and 12 rebounds

"We used a multiple defensive approach," Fazio said. "You have to keep them off balance, especially that guard, who is tremendous. For 26 years we've been a man-to-man team, but this team just can't play man-to-man, so we mix it up."

Rodriguez was the only Warrior in double figures, but four others scored at least seven.