Mario Monroe Of Brockton High SchoolAndover traveled down to Brockton last night to play the Boxers in a nonleague contest matchup of one of the Merrimack Valley's best versus the Big Three's best. Coming into the game, everybody expected a close and physical contest. Instead the 8-1 Boxers manhandled the Warriors all evening handing them an 82-44 loss. Brockton's athleticism overwhelmed Andover as the Boxers dominated the game a they shot out of the box and went up 18-5 at the end of the 1st quarter and 38 -12 by half time. Things didn't get any better for Andover as they trailed 63 - 26 at the end of three quarters.
Brockton's Shane Sims led all scorers with 20 points. The MA & NH High School Basketball Report's #6 rated senior Mario Monroe played his first game of the season for Brockton as the fifth year senior just got M.I.A.A. approval to play. The 6'8" Monroe came off the bench in the second quarter and finished with 6 points in 10 minutes of play. Monroe played for State final runner-up North Cambridge Catholic last year. Senior guard Leo Medina also chipped in for the Boxers with 10 points on the evening. For Andover, junior guard Joe Bramanti scored 12 points and senior forward Brian Miller added 11.
The story ends with a long ride back to the Merrimack Valley for Andover and many questions about who might be the next Eastern Mass champion. Andover has played Merrimack Valley rival Central Catholic rather close in two previous contests this season, but the Warriors were no match for the Boxers. Maybe it was just a real bad night for Andover, but just maybe it has something to do with the physical play of the Merrimack Valley League which is having real trouble as of late matching up against the more athletic teams out of conference. Needless to say, we remember last years division 1 North Sectional Finals when the favored Central Catholic team could not handle the athletic Lynn English team as the Bulldogs went on to a 71 - 60 victory over the Raiders.
In girls basketball, Fontbonne's senior Alexis Peter scored her 1,000 point last evening as Fontbonne defeated Marshfield 59 - 50.
