NORTH ANDOVER – The North Andover boys hoops team knew things wouldn’t be easy on Friday night.
No. 17-seeded New Bedford arrived at the Crozier Field House sporting a suffocating press that teams struggled to solve throughout the season.
The Scarlet Knights, however, were able to break it, and dominate in all facets.
Led by Niko Catalano’s 28 points, No. 16 North Andover stormed past New Bedford, 75-54, in the Division 1 Round of 32.
“It’s hard to replicate the defense they run at practice, we saw it on film, we knew what they would do,” said North Andover coach Paul Tanglis. “It’s all about being tough with the ball, making the simple play. We can’t have a lot of live ball turnovers, and I thought that we handled the press really well for the most part.”
Catalano, who scored 16 points in the second half, refused to have his final high school game come this early in the tournament.
“We felt motivated coming into today, it’s the last home game of the season, and we knew what was at stake,” said Catalano. “I knew how long of a journey this has been, so I wanted to give it my all tonight. I think I found a good balance between being aggressive and finding my open teammates.
“We have the best coaching staff in the world. We knew exactly what the press would look like, and the coaches did everything they could to help us execute. They delivered just as much as we did tonight.”
Despite a 15 point lead in the first half, a half-court buzzer beater from New Bedford’s Diego Montanari cut the Whaler deficit to seven at the break.
Although it seemed as if the shot could have been a momentum shift, the Scarlet Knights stayed true to their system, going on a 15-4 run to begin the quarter.
Zach DesRochers was excellent alongside Catalano, scoring 17 points on three shots from deep.
Things don’t get any easier for North Andover moving forward. Next up is the No. 1 team in Division 1, Franklin (22-1) on the road Monday night at 6 p.m.
“We’re going to have to play really well,” said Tanglis. “They’re a sound team, they’re good in all aspects, and we have our work cut out for us. We will enjoy this tonight, and then we have to be ready for Monday.”
“We will be ready for Monday,” added Catalano. “As I said, the coaching staff will put us in the best situation to win. It’s up to us to execute and make it happen.”
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North Andover 75, New Bedford 54
NA – Niko Catalano 13-2-28, Zach DesRochers 6-2-17, Angel Sanchez 4-2-10, Cam Bethel 3-0-9, Bryan Gyorda 2-0-5, Ben Sullivan-Lattuga 0-3-3, Trey Martin 0-3-3
NB – Diego Montanari 8-3-21, Jaren Goodine 3-4-10, Luisander Vega 3-1-7, Isaac Rivera 2-0-5, Danny Rocha 2-0-4, Julez Johnson 1-0-3