New Mission tops Melrose, 56-46
Published in the March 10, 2017 edition
DEVONDRE WILLIAMS battles a New Mission defender during the opening round of the Div. 2 North playoffs. Melrose fell to the Titans, 56-46. (Donna Larsson photo)
By LUC SULLIVAN
HYDE PARK— The Melrose High Red Raider basketball team suffered a gut-wrenching, 56-46 loss on Wednesday, March 1 against New Mission. The Titans were a step ahead of Melrose in the first round of the Division 2 North Basketball Tournament at the New Mission gym in Hyde Park. That loss scratches the Raiders from the remainder of the tournament and ends their 2016-2017 season.
The first quarter was an adjustment for the Red Raiders on both offense and defense, as the Titans were knocking down buckets from all over the court. The Raiders had several early chances to get the points flowing but couldn’t get a clean shot off. Meantime, New Mission seemed unable to miss, quickly accumulating 12 unanswered points as the Raiders fought to keep their heads above water.
But the Raiders eventually kicked back into action. The defense forced 18 turnovers on the night–a necessity to combat the depth and size of that New Mission roster. With three minutes left in the second the score was 30-17, Titan advantage. The Raiders had managed to bring some life back to their game, but were starting to have problems capitalizing on free throws. The bad luck would come to a head for the Raiders when T’Mahri Mercer came down from a layup and slipped on a wet court, forcing him to the bench with an injury. The end of the first half left the score at New Mission 32, Melrose 21.
The start of the third quarter looked good for Melrose on both sides of the ball. Melrose was finally jamming up Titan shooters, grabbing rebounds and intercepting passes. With five minutes left in the second half, Sean Donovan slung a right hook through traffic in the paint for two and Avery Davis checked the weather by the rim for a lay in with extra ups that adjusted the score to Melrose 25, New Mission 34. But the Titans were holding tight to their lead behind a steady trickle of mid-quarter points. By the end of the third, Melrose was looking at a full blown comeback with T’Mahri Mercer back in the game and the score at Raiders 32, Titans 40.
The fourth quarter saw a barrage of shots from both teams as Melrose kicked up the intensity and New Mission turned up the speed. Back and forth fouls and midrange jumpers dominated the start of the fourth. A wet court was starting to become a huge problem as well causing abundant lapses in momentum during several stoppages of play. These frequent stops involved the official running to the sideline to grab a rag so they could wipe up the court, and then running back to the sideline to put the rag down and start play again, rather than keeping it in their pocket.
Coach Kasprzak spoke about these game conditions after the matchup saying in part that the, “Game prep was not as good as it could have been-for both teams; you don’t want to go into a gym where people are falling and slipping.”
With five minutes left in the game, Devondre Williams grabbed the ball and brought it cross court and to the net on an impressive solo effort that was followed by a Stanton layup in the paint that closed the Titan lead to seven.
New Mission started to run away with it, however, as they continuously sunk shots and began to stem the surge of Melrose points. The early lead the Titans secured appeared to be catching up with the Raiders, who were running out of time to bridge their comeback. With one minute left in the game, the score was New Mission 52, Melrose 43. The Raiders remained virtually deadlocked eight or so points behind New Mission in the fourth as every score was answered by a Titan basket. With the seconds ticking away New Mission sealed the victory with a final dunk that got their home crowd roaring and set the final score at New Mission 56, Melrose 46.
Coach Kasprzak wrapped up his comments by saying, “We left it all on the floor, that’s what I’m really proud of those kids for.”
This year the team says so long to seniors Devondre Williams, capt. T’Mahri Mercer, Sean Donovan, capt. Sean Prendergast, capt. Avery Davis and Malik Monteiro. Expect Mercer and Avery Davis to continue balling up Raider style in college.
