BY ABHISHEK RANA & SUBIN BASTOLA
Malden High’s Boys Basketball Team have started the season with an overall record of 5-3. The team has demonstrated their skill and have had some great performances.
On December 13th, The Tornadoes started their season with a dominating 64-47 victory over the Tewksbury Memorial High School Redmen. The team then went on to win its next three games to start the season undefeated at 4-0. It had had strong outings over Marblehead, winning the game 56-51, and then dominated Milford and Woburn Memorial by a score of 69-41 and 54-36 respectively.
These wins consisted of great overall performances from the team as well individuals, such as senior captain Bernard Taylor, who continued to shoot lights out from the field and put up great scoring performances.
The team looked to continue its undefeated start to the season on December 29th against the Revere Patriots. Against a tough opponent, the boys played a back and forth, and tightly contested game and were down by three points with seconds to play in the fourth quarter. Coming up clutch down the stretch, Taylor converted a game-tying and buzzer beating three pointer to send the game to overtime. However, despite their best efforts, the boys came up short by a single point and lost the game in overtime by a final score of 72-71.
On January 3rd, The Tornadoes tried to redeem their only one loss of the season then so far at Pope John XXII Tigers basketball team. However, despite their valiant effort the boys once again lost the game by close margin, with the final score being 51-47.
Another tough loss came on January 6th when the Tornadoes went away to face the Somerville High School Highlanders. Despite another complete performance from the team, the boys lost their third straight game, by another single-basket difference of 48-47.
The boys then played the Tigers for a second time in four games, but this time at home in the MHS Finn Gym. The boys were looking to get some redemption over the one point loss against the Highlanders, as well as snap a three game losing streak, and they did just that by controlling the entire game. The home game made the difference as MHS won 67-52, gaining some much needed momentum on the season.
Despite having lost three out of the last four games, the boys have been extremely competitive in all of them and have only lost the three games by a combined six points. The team now hopes to rediscover their form and go back to winning ways in order to meet their pre-season goal of making the state tournament.
When asked about his thoughts on the season so far, senior captain Nathaniel Ilebode responded by saying that “[he] thinks that the season has been going pretty well so far,” but also confessed that “the last few games haven’t been too good.” However he also mentioned that “overall, it has been a good start.”
Ilebode also mentioned the importance for the team “to go back to winning ways after losing three of the last four games, especially if [they] want to make the playoffs.” In order to do exactly that he stated that the team “needs to play well down the stretch and finish games,” as “not finishing games has caused them to lose three.”
