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Andover Golden Warriors Boys Basketball '09-'10

Wed, Dec 23, 2009 06:00 PM @ Andover
Team 1 2 3 4 Final
North Andover 14 14 13 9 50
Andover 10 12 14 16 52

Andover edges North Andover in comeback thriller

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Staff Photographer

Wednesday, December, 23 By Michael Muldoon
Staff writer

 

LAWRENCE North Andover's Tommy O'Connell drove the lane and lofted a high-arching runner over Andover's 6-4 leaper Brian Miller.

The tough shot rimmed out leaving the Scarlet Knights devastated and the Golden Warriors breathing a colossal sigh of relief.

The Knights led the entire way until a pretty drive and hoop by freshman Sam Dowden (10 points) gave Andover a 42-41 edge with 5:50 remaining. The Knights, who led by five after three quarters, couldn't withstand a 6:48 scoreless stretch from late in the third until 2:27 left in the game.

Joe Bramanti came to the rescue for Andover (4-0). The "Brama Bull" led all scorers with 24 points and pulled down a man-sized 11 rebounds.

Andover will play Lawrence in the semifinals here Sunday night.

"He's our captain,'' said Andover coach Dave Fazio. "He's supposed to make plays. He's a warrior.''

Indeed, Fazio said Bramanti is nursing a badly swollen ankle.

The star of the fourth quarter was Dowden. The temptation is to gush about what a breakout performance it was, but he dazzled 17th-ranked Boston College High with 16 points and eight rebounds.

"Sometimes (when you're that young) you don't realize how big it is,'' said Fazio.

Sam it was big!

The Knights (2-1), who look to have their best team in years, relish the opportunity to knock off their neighbors from the highly-regarded MVC. These are the wins tTurkey Towners relish for years.

And they almost had a doozy to talk about, knocking off the seventh-ranked team in Eastern Mass.

"

Nonetheless, they had Andover reeling.

"That would have been pretty neat,'' said Knights coach Mike McVeigh wistfully. 

Tommy O'Connell  scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half and the Knights led 28-22 at the break.

A couple sweet dishes by Derek Collins, the first a bullet to Zac Iovanella for a lay-up, and the second a bomb to Ryan Bruynell for another layup had the Knights poised for the upset late in the third.

But the drought was too much to overcome.

Andover finally started to solve Andover's well-oiled offense.

"We paralyzed three teams (in three lopsided wins). They were executing perfectly the Princeton backdoor offense.''

Dowden converted a rebound of his own miss, the Brama Bull swished a pull-up jumper, Dowden drove baseline for two then nailed a pair of free throws and Brian Miller (9 points, 9 rebounds) sank two from the charity stripe. Suddenly, Andover led 48-41.

 Game, set and match Andover.

Not so fast. The Knights improbably rebounded with Alex Blane powering in a hoop, O'Connell nailing all three free throws after an ill-advised Andover foul on a 3-pointer and it was 49-46 with 1:40 to go.

But D.J. Fazio whipped a pass to Miller for a layup only to have cool sophomore Zach Karalis (10 points) answer back. 

After an Andover turnover, North Andover missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Karalis went coast to coast after a turnover to make it 51-50. Bramanti made 1 of 2 from the line with six seconds left but the Knights couldn't get the equalizer to fall.

"We were outplayed and outcoached,'' said Fazio flatly. "We got a gift. But these kids are relentless. We easily could have folded with that No. 7 ranking and all that garbage. I'm proud of them.''

 

Game Statistics:

North Andover (50): Zac Iovanella 1 0-0 2, Tommy O'Connell 6 3-3 16, Scott Ricketts 3 0-0 7, Matt Sifferlen 0 0-0 0, Zach Karalis 5 0-0 10, Derek Collins 1 0-0 3, Ryan Bruynell 2 2-3 6, Alex Blane 3 0-1 6. Totals 21 5-7 50

Andover (52):  Craig Lushenat 0 0-0 0, Bryan McNiff 0 0-0 0, D.J. Fazio 1 0-0 2, Jimmy Johnson 3 1-2 7, Brian Salvesen 0 0-0 0, Joe Bramanti 9 4-8 24, Kris Riemer 0 0-0 0, Brian Miller 3 3-5 9, Sam Dowden 4 2-2 10, Spenser Rose 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-17 52

3-pointers: NA — O'Connel, Ricketts, Collins; A — Bramanti 2

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