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Andover overcomes lawrence

ANDOVER — On senior night, Andover's Kyle Rocker was one determined senior Friday night.

Although he started slowly, missing his first four shots, Rocker came on strong when it counted, scoring 11 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter as the Warriors (11-7) surged past Lawrence, 66-57, for arguably their best win of the season.

"This was a very big win for us," said Rocker. "I kept telling myself we had to get the W tonight. I didn't get off to a good start, but once I got in my rhythm, I felt pretty good."

Aidan Cammann, Andover's 6-foot-6 sophomore center, also started slowly, scoring just four points in the first half, but he was like a man possessed in the second half, calling for the ball on almost every trip down the floor and converting for 14 points to finish with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

"Faz (coach Dave Fazio) has been telling me I have to score more, so I'm trying to go to the basket more," said Cammann. "I felt I had a little bit of a (height) advantage and I wanted to use it."

Also hitting double figures for Andover was sophomore Richie Shahtanian, who had three 3-pointers and 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting.

But, more than anything, it was the Warriors' aggressive play in the second half, on both ends of the court, that allowed Andover to come back from a 35-29 halftime deficit.

Still trailing 47-45 heading into the fourth quarter, Andover kept applying the the pressure and took the lead for good with 3:14 to play when Cammann took a nice pass from Rocker, made the basket, was fouled and converted the free throw to provide a 55-53 lead.

Cammann scored again on the next trip down the floor and the Warriors then sealed the game on free throws, hitting 10 of 12 in the fourth quarter.

"We had to have a statement win against a good team so this was an important win for us," sauid Fazio. "We have a lot of respect for Lawrence. They always play tough and have a lot of fight. We just had a little more fight tonight."

For Lawrence (15-6), which made 10 of their 14 turnovers in the second half, it was a case of living and dying with 3-pointers. Led by senior Angel Herrera's five trifectas, the Lancers hit on a dozen 3-pointers for the game, but they seemed to rely to heavily on them against Andover's zone.

In fact, Lawrence's only field goals in the second half were 3-pointers and it didn't score a 2-point field goal for the final 19 minutes of the game and missed their last five attempts.

Herrera wound up with a team-high 19 points and Jeremiah Melendez (with three 3-pointers) added 13 points. Usual standouts Brandon Goris and Gabriel Zorrilla were held nine and five points respectively.

Good exterior defense by the Warriors contributed to the low total for Goris while Zorrilla was partly hampered by foul trouble.

"We really needed a big win on a Friday night and to get it on Senior Night makes it even better," said Fazio. "We're getting better and this kind of showed it."

Take that!

With 18 seconds to play and Andover ahead 62-57, the Warriors tried to slide ace free thrower Kyle Rocker to the line after a foul. But the mistake was noted and Michael Slayton replaced Rocker. But alas, Slayton nailed both free throws to help seal the win.