In a battle of New England based schools, Worcester Academy of Massachusetts managed to land a 77-68 victory over St. Andrew's of Rhode Island, 77-68, in the Our Savior New American Invitational tournament held yesterday.
Worcester ran out to an early 24-9 first quarter lead. But St. Andrew's slowly climbed back into the game. Mike Hart's team cut the deficit to 40-27 at the half.
Worcester still had a 59-52 advantage in the third quarter. But a key missed dunk by Rahim Sanders of Rhode Island turned around St. Andrew's momentum.
Halfway through the third, an effective zone trap employed by Hart's squad forced Worcester to cough up the ball on three straight possessions. Trailing by four points, Sanders went ahead of the field off a steal but bounced his dunk off the back iron.
The big men of Chas McFarland (17 points) and Ben Eaves (18 points) then took over the game inside over the smaller St. Andrew's team. Each of these forwards hit several key baskets in the final two quarters of play to keep St. Andrew's from threatening further.
Senior forward Kyle Cannon also had a solid game for Worcester. Cannon added 14 points for the winners.
For St. Andrew's, Joe Odugbela scored 18 points. Sanders finished the game with 16 points.