RallyNorth.net

Fri, Mar 01, 2013 07:00 PM @ St. John's

Team	1	2	3	4	OT	Final
Andover	10	12	13	13	14	62
St. John's	13	12	14	9	11	59

Giribaldi, Andover upset top-seed Prep

Friday, August, 07 By Chuck Frye

DANVERS — With seven seniors on the roster, it’s only natural that a sophomore would step up to make the biggest play of Andover’s season.

But that’s what players like David Giribaldi are empowered to do.

And as a result, Andover will be taking on archrival Central Catholic in the Division 1 North semifinals, and No. 1 seed St. John’s Prep is done for the season.

With the support of the upperclassmen as well as head coach David Fazio, Giribaldi didn’t think twice about what he was going to do against St. John’s Prep’s defense, trailing by two points with seconds left in regulation.

“We didn’t run a play,” Giribaldi said of the possession that followed a huge baseline jumper from the Eagles’ Josh Syska (16 points and 16 rebounds) with seven seconds left in regulation to give the top-seeded hosts a two-point lead.

“I happened to see an opening and I drove to the basket,” Giribaldi said. “That’s what I’m good at. I didn’t even know how much time was left. I just went with my gut.”

Driving to the hoop, he sunk the layup over Syska as time expired, and after a minute-long conference between the three officials, the basket stood and the game went to overtime.

“David is one of the most fearless kids I’ve had in my 20 years of coaching,” said Fazio. “The bigger the game, the more fearless he is.”

From there, Andover’s defense took over, forcing three Prep turnovers. Sam Dowden got a traditional three-point play for the lead and Andover held on for the improbable upset with a 62-59 victory.

The Warriors, 16-6 and seeded eighth in Division 1 North, will face No. 4 Central Catholic (19-5) in the semifinals.

Defense made the ultimate difference as Andover effectively defended St. John’s Prep’s wing players out of the offense as Drex Costello of North Andover and Ben Judson of Plaistow combined for just 10 points. This forced point guard Tyler Dooley (16 points) into extended periods of 1-on-1 play that affected their scoring. Combined with a rare off-night at the foul line for the hosts (17 of 31), Andover stayed close.

“Tyler’s as good of a point guard as we’ve played, and when we defended the wings closely — Drex was MVP of the Catholic Conference — the only choice he had was to try and drive by,” Fazio said.

In a game where neither team led by more than six points, Sam Dowden (19 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks) took charge in the defensive paint late and turned the tide.

 

agateHed:Andover 62, St. John’s Prep 59

agateText:Division 1 North Quarterfinals

agateText:Andover (62):@zzAgate:agateText: Sam Dowden 7 3-3 19, David Giribaldi 4 2-2 12, Jack Konevich 2 5-9 9, Chris Dunn 1 5-8 8, Tyler Verrette 2 0-0 4, Connor Merinder 1 1-3 4, John Pisacreta 1 0-0 3, Greg Dreyfus 1 0-0 2, Max Silveira 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 17-27 62

agateText:St. John’s Prep (59):@zzAgate:agateText: Josh Syska 6 4-6 16, Tyler Dooley 4 8-15 16, Max Burt 4 0-0 10, Drex Costello 3 2-2 8, Jake Burt 1 1-2 3, Max Butterbrodt 1 1-2 3, Ben Judson 1 0-0 2, Quentin Bullen 0 1-4 1, Mike Bisson 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 17-31 59

agateText:3-pointers:@zzAgate:agateText: A — Dowden 2, Giribaldi 2, Pisacreta, Merinder, Dunn; SJP — M. Burt 2

agateText:Andover (16-6):@zzAgate:agateText: 10 12 13 13 14 — 62

agateText:St. John’s Prep (19-3):@zzAgate:agateText: 13 12 14  9 11 — 59