Fri, Jan 11, 2019
07:00 PM @
Central Catholic
| Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Final |
| Andover |
17 |
17 |
12 |
25 |
71 |
| Central Catholic |
15 |
11 |
16 |
20 |
62 |
Andover snaps 7-game losing streak to Central
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LAWRENCE — Leave it to veteran Andover coach David Fazio to succinctly sum up things:
“Gutsy, that’s what I call it from our guys … Gutsy, that’s a good headline.”
Despite three starters fouling out – two of whom combined to play fewer than four minutes of the second half – Fazio’s Golden Warriors put themselves squarely in the MVC Large mix with a 71-62 win at Central Catholic.
The win snapped a seven-game Andover losing streak to the Raiders. Andover won 62-55 on Jan. 8, 2016.
“This is big, very big,” said Kyle Rocker, who poured in a game-high 26 points. “In my three years here, I haven’t gotten a win against Central, so this is special. … Having this momentum right now is great.”
Andover (5-1 MVC, 7-2 overall) built a 14-point lead early in the third by harassing the Raiders, who had trouble shooting over the Warrior zone. In the first half, the Raiders were 4-of-18 from distance while missing 19 of 27 total field goals.
But Central (4-1, 7-2) clawed back with a press which forced 11 turnovers the final 12 minutes. Back-to-back buckets by Kevin Constant had the Raiders within three at 56-53 with 4:20 left.
Colin Kirkpatrick, who scored all eight of his points in the fourth, sandwiched a 3-pointer and two free throws around an Aidan Cammann layup to restore order at 63-53. Central was unable to get within six the remainder of the way as the Warriors scored 25 in the fourth.
“Both teams had a lot of guys in foul trouble,” Fazio of the 42 fouls – 27 on his Warriors. “We lost our starting point guard (Emmett Kim) on the second play of the fourth period, and he’s been running the point for us for three years. And, all of a sudden, we have young guys in there, and they were just gutsy.”
One of those young guys was the 6-foot-5 freshman Cammann, the first player off the Warrior bench who scored his team’s final five points from the line and finished with eight points.
“These kids play a lot of basketball, and they know if they’re on the floor for us that we have confidence in them,” Fazio said. “That’s obviously the best game of (Cammann’s) early career. He’s going to be a great player.”
Central ice cold
The fouls didn’t hurt Andover much, however, as Central converted only 10 of its 31 attempts from the line. The Raiders also shot just 33.9 percent from the floor (21-62).
Andover, meanwhile, had a strong shooting night, making 22 of 43 attempts. Stephen Shaw was the second Warrior in double figures with 17.
“We can shoot the ball,” Fazio said. “There’s no doubt. I thought Kyle Rocker was immense tonight. He made big shot after big shot and was strong with the ball. He made great plays for us, and I think he grew up a lot tonight.”
Andover, which also won at Lawrence on Tuesday to avenge a Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic loss, gets a reprieve from conference play Sunday against Lexington before playing host to North Andover on Friday.
Central was paced by George Smith’s 19 points while Kevin Constant and freshman Xavier McKenzie added 13 and 11, respectively.
Game Statistics:
Andover (71): Kyle Rocker 9 3-4 26, Colin Kirkpatrick 2 2-2 8, Stephen Shaw 5 6-8 17, Emmett Kim 1 0-1 2, Michael Slayton 1 0-0 2, Aidan Cammann 2 4-6 8, Charlie McCarthy 1 2-3 5, Ryan Grecco 0 0-0 0, Richie Shahtanian 1 0-0 3, Shamus Florio 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 17-24 72
Central Catholic (62): Kevin Constant 6 1-12 13, Xavier McKenzie 4 0-0 11, Cam Homsey 1 1-4 4, Anthony Traficante 1 0-0 2, George Smith 5 6-8 19, Jalen Aquino 1 1-3 4, Nate Godin 0 0-0 0, Isaac Bonilla 0 0-0 0, Aidan Rodriguez 0 1-4 1, Jeff Goguen 3 0-0 8. Totals 21 10-31 62
3-pointers: Andover — Rocker 5, Kirkpatrick 2, Shaw, McCarthy, Shahtanian; CC — McKenzie 3, Smith 3, Goguen 2, Homsey, Aquino
