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Brooks lifts game in win over Phillips

Thursday, February, 18 By Jeff Hamrick

ANDOVER — When your tallest player is only 6-foot-1, a team has no choice but to get used to the disadvantage. That, however, doesn’t mean Brooks hasn’t found ways to get around the height factor.
The Green and White kept their slim postseason hopes alive for at least one more week, rallying from a six-point, second-half deficit en route to a 75-67 victory over Phillips Academy yesterday afternoon.
After relying on strong perimeter shooting in the first half, Brooks looked inside against Phillips, which had 6-foot-8 Thomas Palleschi of Haverhill and 6-foot-8 Tom Hamel of Methuen and four others at 6-foot-4 — three inches taller than anyone Brooks could put on the court.
With an offense featuring cutters fearlessly working the lanes, Brooks used an 18-6 run to open up a 72-63 lead with 2:42 remaining.
“Every game we give up at least six inches,” said Albert Nascimento, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds while limiting Palleschi to only four points after intermission. “We just have to go in with the intention that we’re going to outwork them inside every game. We want to make them work for their points. If we do that and tire them out, we’ve got conditioning on our side to take it to the end of the game.”
Brooks (8-4) began the game firing from the outside, connecting on seven 3-pointers in the first half, and had assists on seven of their first 11 field goals.
“Everyone on the team has a great friendship,” said Nascimento, who is headed to Middlebury College next year. “We’re just out there passing the ball and having a lot of fun together. We have a good time and want to put on a good show for the crowd.”
But Phillips (5-10) kept things close behind Palleschi’s 10 points while Stephen Koenig and Haverhill’s Ryan Hartung combined for 17, including 15 from behind the arc. The first half featured six ties and four lead changes before Phillips’ 13-3 run the final six minutes to take a 38-32 lead into intermission.
“I was worried because when you shoot as well as we did in the first half and you’re still down by six points, that’s a little bit scary,” Brooks coach John McVeigh said. “We talked a lot at halftime about trying to get the ball into the lane. Of trying to get easier shots, and hoping that would open up the paint a little bit. We were obviously at a size disadvantage, but we had a speed advantage.”
Phillips took its last six-point lead with 8:09 left on a pair of free throws by Khalid McCaskill, who scored all but two of his team-high 18 points in the final half. But Jordan Johnson, who had a game-high 20 points, and Derek Murphy, who added 18, powered the Brooks comeback. Murphy gave the Green and White the lead for good at 62-61 on a 3-pointer from the wing with 4:49 remaining.
“They outquicked us,” said Phillips coach Leon Modeste. “They did a nice a nice job handling the ball. Then we got cold down the stretch, and that’s a bad time to go cold.”