"We definitely did not make it easy on ourselves, that's for sure." a relieved Tornado head coach Don Nally said after the close win.  "We jumped out early, they clawed back, then built a big lead in that 3rd quarter and had to hang on.  We should expect that though, Medford is a tough team and we knew they weren't going to quit.  This was a huge win for us."

 

The Tornadoes did jump out early, opening up a 9-2 lead before the Tornado faithful could even take their seats in the Finn Gym.  Junior forward Bryan Mitchell converted two driving layups and senior captain Rodney Morton added a three point play as it appeared the Tornadoes might run away and hide from their long time rivals.  Medford would climb back in with their defense, holding Malden without a point of nine straight possessions to turn a 9-2 deficit into a 13-9 lead in the final minutes the first quarter.  Malden would answer with another mini-spurt, a 5-0 run, to close the quarter with a 14-13 lead. 

 

Malden sophomore forward Anthony Gilardi was the story in the 2nd quarter, scoring 10 of his team's 18 2nd quarter points.  Gilardi used his size and strength to hit a series of close range shots to push the Tornado lead to 6, 32-26 at the half.  Malden opened up their lead in the 3rd quarter behind the 3-headed monster of Gilardi, Mitchell and Morton.  The three combined for 21 of Malden's 26 3rd quarter points and the lead was up to 58-44 entering the final frame.  

 

"Our guards did a great job of pushing the ball and getting us easy looks in transition." Gilardi said from the team locker room.  "Our game plan was to take it right at them and continue to go to the basket and we really did that, especially in the 3rd quarter."

 

Medford, however, would have another spurt left in them.  Led by senior guard Sean Domcaster's 26 points, 20 in the second half and 11 in the 4th quarter, Medford stormed back. Pressing the Tornadoes all over the court, the Mustangs caused a number of turnovers and had the lead down to just two points when a crucial call late in the game almost helped them to victory.  Trailing by two, Medford watched as senior forward Jason Surpris (13pts, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks) spun in the paint and appeared to score a back breaking layup with just over a minute left.  Surprisingly, Surpris was whistled for a controversial offensive foul and the Mustangs had new life.  Domcaster drove to the basket and found senior forward James Hawkins underneath for two of his six points to knot the score at 69-69 with under a minute to go.  Malden, having just won a thriller on Tuesday night over Everett, did not panic.  Junior point guard Luvenge Francois patiently worked the ball down low to Gilardi, who turned and spun to the middle of the paint, dropping in 2 of his game-high 28 points to give the Tornadoes a 2pt lead with 20 seconds left.  After a Medford timeout, it appeared the fates might be working in the Mustangs favor.  Francois tipped the ball from behind out of Domcaster's hands and watched helplessly as it bounced perfectly into the hands of Medford senior Billy Joseph spotting up in the left corner behind the 3pt line.  The shot looked good when it left his hands but spun in and out.  Medford got another possession when the rebound went off a Malden defender's hand with under 5 seconds left but were unable to get off a good look as time expired.

 

"We just had an amazing three game stretch of GBL basketball against three top opponents." Nally noted. "We have a few more hills to climb but this was a great, great effort.  Any time you can win three in a row in our league, its a great accomplishment."

 

Malden returns to the court on Wednesday night in Belmont with a chance to clinch a state tournament berth with a victory.