“We’re not really thinking about the league title. You know that. We’ve got enough of them. We’re thinking about other things,” said Fazio after his Warriors drilled the rival Raiders, 63-43, before a stirred-up packed house at the Dunn Gym on Thursday night. “I just hope we don’t peak too early, but man we played pretty darn good tonight.”
Andover, ranked by most everyone at 1 or 2 in the state, never struggled or trailed, breaking to a 15-5 lead after one quarter and holding the the 11-3 Raiders to a scoreless stretch of nearly 10 minutes in the first half.
“We’ve been stressing, it all starts with our defense. This team is so talented. If we can just show up and play defense, we’ve got a chance every night,” said Fazio, who of course centered the defensive plan around Central Catholic standout guard Xavier McKenzie.
“No touches (for him was the plan). That kid is just so good. We kept saying, he can’t beat us if he doesn’t have the ball.”
During that span the Warriors ran off 20 unanswered points, turning a 6-5 grinder into a 26-5 runaway.
Raider Xavier McKenzie ended the drought, draining a 3-pointer with 2:16 left until halftime, but the damage was certainly done.
Andover, closing in on its first MVC crown since 2016, kept Central at least a dozen points away for the duration, extending for good with a 14-3 run that book-ended the close of the third quarter and the opening minutes of the fourth.
Senior Aidan Cammann led the way for the Warriors, netting 19 points with sweet mid-range jumpers and unstoppable driving Euro-step finishes.
“We tell him, we just want you to be a lion. When he’s a lion, gosh, he’s awfully good,” said Fazio.
Central just had no answers, and if they did the line of Warriors willing to step up seemingly didn’t end.
Junior Ryan MacLellan tossed in 15 points, despite some close defensive attention from the Raiders, while Logan Satlow (7 points, 10 boards), Rohit Srinivasan (6 points) and sophomore Danny Resendiz (6 points) all came up with big buckets.
“It was definitely a team effort. I expect it from all of them,” said Cammann. “It’s a great team, and we rallied together tonight to get this win.”
For Central, McKenzie led all scorers with 25 points, but 13 of those came in the fourth when the outcome had already been decided.
“They played well, they outplayed us in every phase of the game,” said Raider coach Mark Dunham.
“We start a freshman, a sophomore and two juniors. Sometimes you’ve just got to take your licking and hopefully you learn from it.
“They did a good job. I though defensively we were fine. Offensively we’ve been rolling for about a month and a half, and they just did a good job.”
Freshman Nick Sangermano added eight points, and no other Raider would add more than a bucket.
“They’re a senior-laden team. They’ve been through some stuff. Unfortunately, our group is a little bit behind where they are,” said Dunham. “We have to go through some stuff to get to where they are.
We’ll keep fighting. We’re going to come back strong. Hopefully, this just ignites us.”
Central (43): Xavier McKenzie 9 2-2 25, Domenic Malvey 0 1-2 1, Marcus Rivera 1 0-0 3, Nick Sangermano 3 0-0 8, Bladomir Hiraldo 0 2-2 2, David Haley 0 1-2 1, Kevin Acosta 1 0-0 3, Totals 14 6-8 43
Andover (63): Ryan McLellan 6 0-0 15, Jonathan Briggs 1 0-0 3, Richie Shahtanian 1 0-0 3, Rohit Srinivasan 3 0-0 6, Lincoln Beal 2 0-0 4, Danny Resendiz 3 0-0 6, Logan Satlow 3 1-2 7, Aidan Cammann 5 9-12 19, Totals 24 10-14 63
3-pointers: CC — McKenzie 5, Rivera, Sangermano 2, Acosta; A — McLellan 3, Briggs, Shahtanian
FULL HOUSE
Andover High’s 63-43 win over rival Central Catholic was more than just a run-of-the-mill Dunn Gymnasium win.
“Our student body, they’ve been dying to jump around and hug for two years. I’m just so happy we had the chance,” said Andover coach David Fazio, who welcomed back his “Jungle” fan section and delighted the group with the victory after some quiet nights during the pandemic.
“Two years of restricted numbers and not great crowds,” said Andover standout Aidan Cammann after he and his teammates were swarmed on as the buzzer sounded. "This one means the world to us. It’s great to get this one. We’ve got a great crowd out here. It’s a school win. This school really loves it when we beat Central. We got to see that tonight.”
Game Statistics:
Central (43): Xavier McKenzie 9 2-2 25, Domenic Malvey 0 1-2 1, Marcus Rivera 1 0-0 3, Nick Sangermano 3 0-0 8, Bladomir Hiraldo 0 2-2 2, David Haley 0 1-2 1, Kevin Acosta 1 0-0 3, Totals 14 6-8 43
Andover (63): Ryan McLellan 6 0-0 15, Jonathan Briggs 1 0-0 3, Richie Shahtanian 1 0-0 3, Rohit Srinivasan 3 0-0 6, Lincoln Beal 2 0-0 4, Danny Resendiz 3 0-0 6, Logan Satlow 3 1-2 7, Aidan Cammann 5 9-12 19, Totals 24 10-14 63
3-pointers: CC — McKenzie 5, Rivera, Sangermano 2, Acosta; A — McLellan 3, Briggs, Shahtanian
