Melrose starts season with close loss to Belmont 

SENIOR CAPT. Miles Nzui is among those returning to the 2023-24 MHS boy’s basketball team. (photo by Raj Das edphotos.com)

 

 

After press time:
Melrose falls to Wakefield 83-42 (Dec. 15)

 


By JENNIFER GENTILE

MELROSE—The Melrose High boys’ varsity basketball team returns after a playoff season in 2022 ready to replicate that experience in 2023-24. They kicked off their season this week in a home game against Belmont, a 49-45 tight loss to a talented Marauder team.

This season Melrose will be captained by seniors Miles Nzui and Connor Brophy. Nzui is a three-year starter and All Star who is a key presence on the court. Says Melrose coach Dan Burns, “Miles had a great junior season. He’s fast, handles the ball well and makes big plays.”

Brophy is coming off an All-Star football season as quarterback. At present, he’s battling through a hand injury that will delay his start, but make no mistake, he’ll back to make impact for Melrose. “Connor is tough to guard,” says Burns. “He moves fast with great speed and is just overall very athletic. We will need his rebounding.”

Returning starters also include junior John Arens, Owen Mujalli, and John Lamas. Experienced senior shooters also include Ben Perella, Gino Preziosa, Eli Pezzini, Josh Lopes, Johnny Veillard.

New players who will make a difference include Nolan Natale, Divine Agbonghagbonse and Jacob Canlas, and two promising sophomores in Jack Casey and Tyler Garipay, both three-sport athletes.

Many of them played strong against Belmont on Tuesday evening when Melrose kicked off their season at the Melrose Middle School gym but fell, 49-45. Melrose was led in scoring by John Lamas, with 12 points and Owen Mujalli and John Arens with 8. Chipping in were Miles Nzui with 7 and Ben Perella with 6. Newcomer Nolan Natale had his first varsity basket.

Melrose had a lead with less than a minute to go and saw two turnovers cost them in the final seconds.

While Melrose has oodles of speed, athleticism, they will miss some height that graduated in 2023. One area that Burns considers make or break for Melrose is rebounding, which will be key to their success. He says, “We graduated some talent last year and we lost some size, so we are going to have to make up for it.”

The Middlesex League remains, as always, one of the toughest around and there are no nights off for the boys in red and white, particularly in the Freedom League. Look for Wakefield (1-0) to be a challenge again (last year they were 18-2) while Burlington might be the strongest in the league. Notes Burns, “Burlington might have the best team and Wilmington returns their whole squad.”

Melrose will get their first taste of Wakefield this Friday evening when they travel to Warrior country to take on their rivals at 7:00 p.m.