The play wasn’t what Andover basketball coach Dave Fazio drew up with 12 seconds to play, trailing by a point. It didn’t matter, as the end result proved fruitful.
Senior captain Rohit Srinivasan drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to propel Andover to a 54-52 Merrimack Valley Conference Large Division victory over archrival Central Catholic.
With the victory, the Golden Warriors (7-7) avenged two prior defeats to the eighth-ranked Red Raiders (10-4).
“Nothing bigger, nothing better,” Fazio said. “Hopefully this will instill some confidence in our guys. They’ve battled all year, given everything they have.”
Senior captain Ryan MacLellan, a WPI commit, bounced a shot from the free throw line in-and-out before junior Danny Resendiz grabbed the offensive rebound, kicked out to MacLellan, who found Srinivasan with an outlet pass for the win.
Advertisement
“I’ve been doing this for 34 years and I felt numb,” said Fazio. “I had to make sure that the game was over. I was completely numb.”
Cam Kerry can be reached at cam.kerry@globe.com.