ANDOVER — After not seeing game action on the court for a span of 10 days, the rust was evident for the St. John’s Prep basketball team Friday afternoon. 

Despite getting off to a solid start, the Eagles simply fell victim to a red-hot Andover team in a 67-45 loss on the road at Dunn Gymnasium.

Michael O’Brien had a solid game in the loss for the Eagles, finishing with 14 points and three rebounds. Kyle Webster added six points and six rebounds, while Jack Perry (five points, two rebounds), Stephon Patrick (four points, five rebounds), Nathan Hendricks (three points), Daniel Trainor (three points) and Jacob Mercedes (three points) also contributed offensively.

The game got off to a fairly even start, with the two sides trading baskets through the first few minutes of play. The Eagles eventually made a basket to tie the score at 10-10, but a free throw and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Andover’s Ryan Maclellan gave the Golden Warriors a 14-10 lead after one quarter. 

In the second, Andover started to heat up. It started with a couple made shots here and there, but eventually Richie Shahtanian went berserk from behind the arc. He knocked down four threes en route to a 14-point quarter for himself, helping extend the Andover lead and leave the Eagles in the dust. By the time the dust settled, Andover took a 37-19 lead into the halftime break.

Despite the deficit, St. John’s Prep came out strong in the third quarter and went on a small rally to start things off. But still, even after cutting the deficit to just 12 points midway through the quarter, the Eagles could never quite catch up. After a few more clutch shots from Maclellan and some strong third-quarter play from 6-foot-8 forward Aidan Cammann, Andover stretched its lead to 51-32 at the end of the third and coasted through the fourth quarter.

St. John’s Prep (2-1) returns to action Sunday afternoon (12) at home against St. Mary’s.