SENIORS WERE honored prior to the start of Melrose’s big win over Malden at last Thursday’s Unified Baskletball game. Pictured top row: Kevin Burke, Harry Jaggers, Nick Cram, Claire Morse. Bottom: coach Matt Manfredi and James Kavanaugh. (Jennifer Gentile photo)
Big win over Malden caps off Senior Day
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High Unified team capped off their recent Senior Day on the best note possible: a big win over Malden.
Family and friends gathered at the Melrose Middle School gym on Thursday, May 19 to honor the team’s out going seniors: James Kavanaugh, Kevin Burke, Nick Cram, Claire Morse and Harry Jaggers. Best of all, Melrose beat the Golden Tornadoes in a high scoring 73-60 thriller.
Melrose’s Nick Cram led in all scoring with 24 points.
It was a big game for Melrose’s Taijy Nazaire (16 pts), who helped the local squad take a lead of 12-4 with his 6 early points. James Kavanaugh had an amazing defensive game and he shut down Malden early while teammate Kevin Burke scored three in a row to lift Melrose to a 22-4 lead. Nick Cram and Taijy Nazaire added to the onslaught with assists by Harry Jaggers, Claire Morse, Ava Perotti and Chloe Gentile. Lily Kavanaugh connected with brother James and he in turn finished the first half with basket to make it 36-29 at the half.
Cram, Burke and Nazaire continued their offensive tear in the third, but Melrose learned never to overlook the Golden Tornadoes, who climbed back into the game and narrowed the gap at 46-41. It would require Herculean strength from The President, James Kavanaugh, to turn this game around and sure enough he did by firing off his signature threes, hitting three for the day, with two in a row, followed by a defensive steal turned layup to widen Melrose’s lead, 60-53. Melrose’s Arthur Hitchman connected with Nick Cram and Chloe Gentile found Kevin Burke for a rebound to help Melrose stay up 68-53.
Another Kavanaugh trey and a Nick Cram jump shot finished out of the massive scoring bonanza and a proud Melrose Unified team earned an impressive win over their neighbor Malden. And just this past Monday, they picked up another win over Burlington.
Coming up this week is the event of the year: Hoopapalooza at the Galvin Middle School on Wednesday (post deadline). Stay tuned for details and pictures of the exciting event in next week’s edition.
