ANDOVER, Mass. — Dave Fazio admits that his Andover team has been flirting with being good since the calendar turned to 2025. He’s had to try to convince them that they are, in fact, good.
The Golden Warriors started the season 6-0 – which included a win over Central Catholic – that was punctuated by winning the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic on Dec. 29. Since then, they’ve rode a rollercoaster. They went 4-5 in January, which included a buzzer-beating loss to Central and a 27-point loss to Lowell. But through the struggles, Fazio believed his squad more resembled the December version than that one.
“We’re as good as any team,” the Andover head coach said. “For whatever reason, we stopped believing we were good. We lacked a little bit of confidence.”
That shouldn’t be a problem now.
With the state tournament looming in a few weeks, Andover may be returning to form at just the right time after Friday’s dominant, wire-to-wire 65-46 victory over Lowell on senior night. The Golden Warriors (12-6) led by as many as 22, using one of their best defensive performances of the season to hand the Red Raiders (16-2) just their second loss of the winter.
Two weeks after its blowout loss to Lowell, Andover turned the tables in the rematch. The Golden Warriors allowed just five points in the first quarter to stake their big lead, and after Lowell star Tzar Powell-Aparicio torched them for 27 points in the last game, he had just five points on Friday night.
Fazio thinks this is a significant confidence-booster for his squad as the postseason nears.
“We’re not even close to where we can be, so I feel like we’re still climbing that mountain,” Fazio said. “Last year, we played our best game of the year at this time and I kind of felt like that was our tipping point. We kind of went down from there. I think we’re still going, we’re still rising up.”
Here are some standouts and takeaways from Friday night.
Sam Concemi, Andover
Class of 2025, 6-8 forward
NCAA: Babson
On his senior night, Concemi came up huge. He scored or assisted all of Andover’s first 13 points – which included two 3-pointers – as the Golden Warriors grabbed an early 13-3 lead. The stretch also included a sequence where he blocked a shot at the rim, got a steal moments later, and then found teammate Josh Roux for a triple. Concemi finished with 20 points, which included several buckets where he flashed his footwork in the post and mobility and skill with the ball. He also had several assists finding cutting teammates.
“He set the tone for us as a leader,” Fazio said. “We’ve had a lot of moments together, saying hey, you have to be the guy. … I’m really happy for these seniors.”
Owen Crowley, Andover
Class of 2026, 6-3 guard
One of the reasons Andover is so dangerous, to me, is that they have three players who can fill it up in a hurry; Crowley, who had a 30-point game earlier this season, is one of them. The junior guard had a quiet one-point first half on Friday, but he erupted for 12 in the final 16 minutes. He started his barrage on a mid-range pull-up jumper after curling around a screen, and he finished it with two 3-pointers in the fourth that put an exclamation mark on the win.
Josh Roux, Andover
Class of 2027, 5-11 guard
Good things just continued to happen whenever Roux had the ball in his hands, whether it was his potent shot-making, ability to break through Lowell’s press or finding teammates. Roux finished with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. He hit a devastating step-back triple in transition that put Andover up 22 late in the third, a shot that looked like a dagger before Lowell made a brief fourth-quarter rally. But Roux helped put the Red Raiders to bed with a tough three-point play off his own putback midway through the fourth.
Charlie Tutwiler, Andover
Class of 2028, 6-0 guard
The freshman was assigned most of the responsibility of shutting down Powell-Aparicio, and he delivered. Tutwiler was a nuisance, in the best way, against Lowell’s star as he face-guarded him on every defensive possession and rarely let him get the ball. Powell-Aparicio was visibly frustrated by Andover’s tactics against him and never got into a rhythm. His shot attempts were always well-defended, he missed open teammates and committed several turnovers. It was a big credit to Tutwiler, who even outscored Powell-Aparicio, 7-5.
“That kid’s phenomenal,” Fazio said of Powell-Aparicio. “I mean, he is, hands down, an all-state player. We got him frustrated early, he didn’t get touches.”
Jason Kamau, Lowell
Class of 2025, 5-10 guard
Lowell’s senior point guard was a spark and bright spot on an otherwise frustrating night for the Red Raiders. He had 10 points and a handful of steals as he ignited a brief Lowell comeback bid in the fourth after they trailed by 22.
Leftover thoughts…
1. Ball security was a key sticking point for Fazio on Friday night; he knows Lowell’s talented guards feast on turnovers, and while they did get some, Andover mostly played mistake-free. Lowell’s 9-0 run to start the final period was fueled off of turnovers, but Andover didn’t let it last long.
“They’re so good at creating offense from their defense, we only had five turnovers in the first half,” Fazio said. “That’s huge, but you can also see them turn it up a notch in that third and fourth. … You just try to keep the sleeping giant quiet. We don’t want to poke the bear.”
2. Fazio started all five of his seniors on senior night – Concemi, Cameron Gath, Owen Foley, Jack Cooper and James Flagg and they delivered for him. Concemi was brilliant, and Gath and Foley each grabbed a steal in the opening minutes to help set the defensive tone. When Fazio substituted his regular starters in, the senior group had given them a 7-3 lead.
“(I was like), ‘You guys set the tone for what you want your legacy to be,’” Fazio said. “Those guys came out and played hard.”
3. Friday’s result could have big implications in the MIAA power rankings that determine state tournament seeding. Lowell entered the game at No. 4 in Division 1 with a 13.8670 rating, and Andover entered at No. 10 with a 11.4600. It’s likely that Lowell will move down and Andover will move up after Friday’s result, but both teams have two games remaining before the rankings and seedings are finalized. The top four seeds earn valuable home-court advantage through the quarterfinals of the tournament.
