ELLIS DAVIS and the Melrose High varsity basketball team open at home this week with a win over Woburn. (photo by Raj Das, edphotos.com)
Kicks season off with 57-38 win over Woburn
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High boy’s varsity basketball team has started off their season off with a big win over Woburn at home on Tuesday, 57-38 to open its season 1-0.
Leading in scoring was junior Miles Nzui with 19 points. Senior captain Cam Lippie had 11 points, sophomore John Arens had 11 with a slew of blocks and rebounds, Ellis Davis had 9 and junior Connor Brophy had 10 points.
While additional details were not available at press time, starting 1-0 is the perfect way to kick off what should be a very competitive season for Melrose.
Last season, the boys in red and white went 11-9 and qualified for playoffs where they fell to Charlestown in the opening round of play. This year, they hope to surpass that. There is every reason to believe they will.
Melrose will look to familiar starters to help them achieve that. They will be led by senior captains Ellis Davis and Cam Lippie, each are four year members of the team. “Both played a tremendous amount of success in our season last year,” says Melrose head coach Dan Burns. “We have great size again this year and we seem to be quicker than past years. So a combination of the two is exciting.”
Melrose carries six seniors on the team including Jake Bird, Daniel Nebiyu, Nasir Monteiro and Sid Praveen. Returning starters include sophomore John Arens, Connor Brophy and Miles Nzui. New players include Owen Mujalli, John Lamas, Gino Peziosa and Ben Perella.
So far in the pre season, coach Burns is pleased with that he’s seen. “It’s looking pretty good. We’ve had some illnesses and injuries but are slowly getting back to full strength.”
Melrose some early pre-season games against Lynn Classical, Revere and Medford. “We had three scrimmages and all were very beneficial to us,” he said. “We had great takeaways from each of the scrimmages, as many of the teams played different styles.”
The season is a long one and Melrose will be tested out of the gate after Woburn with Watertown and Belmont. They’d like to embark on an official winning streak.
“We need to continue to grow,” says the coach. “I think the overall goal is to not regress as the season goes along. As long as we are competitive and getting better then I can’t ask for much more. The league is always competitive and I expect for us to be competitive night in and night out.”
Melrose will travel to Watertown on Friday evening at 5:30 p.m. and then travel to Belmont on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m.
