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North Andover Scarlet Knights Boys Basketball '08-'09

Sat, Feb 28, 2009 07:00 PM @ North Andover
Team 1 2 3 4 Final
Burlington 15 14 17 19 65
North Andover 19 10 9 9 47
North Andovers, John Warden, center, a Senior and Captain, high fives his teammates at the start of the first half against Burlington of the Division 2 North Quarterfinals Boys Basketball game Saturday night.  » Tim Jean, Staff PhotographerMore photos

North Andover bows out

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Saturday, February, 28 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

NORTH ANDOVER - All season long, through a 15-game winning ride, North Andover High found a way to shut teams down.


Last night, there was just no answer for Matt Trahan and Burlington High. The All-Middlesex League senior netted 11 of his game-high 26 points in the third quarter, lifting the No. 10 Red Devils past the second-seeded Knights, 65-47.


Until Trahan (7 first-half points) inflicted his wrath, the Cape Ann League champion Knights were in business.

North Andover, which finishes at 17-4, led early in the second quarter, 23-15, and went to halftime in a 29-29 stalemate.


"I felt pretty good, I thought the kids felt pretty good," said coach Mike McVeigh, whose band of overachievers raced through the Cape Ann League at a perfect 13-0. "We've been a good second half team all year."


North Andover, 9 of 22 from the field in the first half, simply chilled out in the third. Trahan and Co. pounced.
"They obviously shot the ball well," said McVeigh, whose Knights went eight for 29 from the floor after the break to shoot 33 percent for the game. "They executed better in the second half than we did. They got better shots in the second half than we did."


The fight never left the Knights, who were as close as six, early in the fourth.


"I don't think we let up," said McVeigh. "I just think maybe as the score crept up, we felt an urgency to do more, faster and that just leads to trouble."


Ultimately it led to an earlier exit than anticipated for North Andover, which had gone 5-3 in its last three postseason appearances.
"We've stopped some dreams over the last few years. Tonight, this team stopped ours," added McVeigh, going on to salute his CAL champs who came from nowhere (0 starters and 8 points a game returning)to blitz through a flawless January and February. "This is a pretty damn good year by these guys. They had a lot of those intangibles. They were unselfish. They stayed together, and they were patient, all the things that coaches love."


Cape Ann Player of the Year Tommy O'Connell finished off his junior season with a team-high 13 points.

Classmate Matt Sifferlen chipped in 11 points, while senior Nick Fay finished up with 10.

Game Statistics:

Burlington (65): Matt Trahan 10 5-6 26, Justin Fico 6 2-2 15, Zack Hurynowicz 5 4-4 15, Ryan Putney 1 2-4 4, Brendan Farley 2 0-0 4, Andy Murkidjanian 0 1-2 1, Totals 24 14-18

  North Andover (47): Tommy O'Connell 5 0-0 13, Nick Fay 3 4-4 10, Alex Blane 2 2-2 6, Matt Sifferlen 4 0-0 11, Ryan Bruynell 1 0-0 2, Evan Sheehan 1 0-0 2, John Warden 1 1-2 3, Totals 17 7-8 47

3-pointers: B - Trahan, Fico, Hurynowicz; NA - O'Connell 3, Sifferlen 3

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