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ANDOVER – With the underdog visitors forcing their way into a tie at intermission, Andover coach David Fazio challenged the best player on the court to take command.

Aidan Cammann didn’t disappoint.

Jonathan Briggs eruped for a team-high 14 points, including four 3-pointers, as Andover shook off a pair of losses and rolled over Lowell 75-44. Fellow seniors Logan Satlow and Aidan Cammann each added 13 points for the winners.

Ryan MacLellan went off for 23 points as Andover bested rival Lawrence 64-48 on Friday. Logan Satlow added 16 points for the winners. Marius Canery tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lancers.

Andover whipped Lowell, 80-63, to clinch the MVC Division 1 crown. Andover (16-0) was led by Ryan MacLellan with 22 points and Ryan Satlow with 18.

ANDOVER – With nine straight conference wins, including a pair over rival Central Catholic, it would have been easy for Andover High boys basketball coach Dave Fazio to point to that giant, “league championships” banner over his right shoulder and figure out where “2022” would hang very soon.

“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

Ryan MacLellan scored a game-high 23 points to keep Andover unbeaten (10-0), downing North Andover 73-50. Aidan Cammann added 16 points for the Golden Warriors, while Drew Connolly added 14 points for the Scarlet Knights.

Andover downed Methuen as Aidan Cammann (13 points), Ryan MacLellan (19 points) and Logan Satlow (10 points) all cracked double figures. Methuen's Isaac Allen had a game-high 23 with five threes.