"I thought our press really gave them fits tonight." Malden coach Don Nally said before stepping on the bus for the long, but happy ride home.  "We knew they had more size than us and that we'd have to dictate the pace of the game.  I thought we were able to do that for much of the first half."

 

The Tornadoes, in fact, jumped all over the Bombers early, closing the first quarter with a 22-11 lead.  The teams traded baskets for much of the second quarter before Westfield made a late run to cut the gap to just 2 points.  Consecutive 3pt field goals by junior forward Laveng Francois pushed the Tornado lead back up and left Malden up 32-26 at the break.  In the 3rd quarter, the pace quickened with Malden again dictating the tempo with their press.  Gilardi and junior forward Bryan Mitchell caused havoc in the middle of the press, combining for five 3rd quarter steals and 12 of the team's 19 3rd quarter points.  Heading into the 4th quarter, Malden led the Bombers 51-42.

 

"I felt really good about where we were after 3 quarters." Nally added.  "Unfortunately, we probably didn't do as good a job as we could have with our bench and our legs got pretty weary in that 4th quarter and they really attacked us on the glass."

 

Attack would be an understatement.  Westfield tallied 22 offensive rebounds for the game and their tenacity on the boards eventually led to a tie score 50-50 with under 2 minutes remaining.  After a Malden missed field goal, Westfield tried to push the ball down the court for their first lead of the game.  Gilardi, however, was now ready for prime time.  The sophomore jumped in front of a sideline pass and raced the length of the floor for a layup to give Malden the lead 52-50.  After another offensive rebound, and score, it was senior co-captain Rodney Morton's time to shine, as the lanky swingman buried a corner 3pt field goal to give the Tornadoes a 3pt lead with little over a minute remaining.  Morton had dazzled the crowd earlier by slamming home a breakaway dunk off of a steal, just 2 of his 16 points on the night.  Westfield would not be fazed by Morton's heroics.  With 40 seconds left, the Bombers would hit a game tying 3 pt field goal to again knot the score, this time at 55 apiece.  After a Morton missed 3pt field goal, Westfield had a chance at the lead but missed a jumper of their own, which was corralled by Gilardi, one of his team leading 12 rebounds.  Gilardi's biggest rebound, however, was yet to come.  Malden again put the ball in the hands of Morton who drove along the left sideline and launched a jumper.  The ball would hit the back iron but was wrestled away from Westfield by Gilardi.  The sophomore took two dribbles with his back to the basket, spun, and rolled in a 10 foot jumper with the clock ticking under 1 second.  Without any timeouts, Westfield watched helplessly as the clock hit zero and the Tornadoes celebrated their second straight win.

 

"It was a hard fought victory and well earned victory by our kids." Nally said. "We know we need to get better in some areas but we also showed ourselves we can step up when the game is on the line.  All in all, we'll take the win."

 

Medford High School dropped the opener of the East/West Massachusetts Invitational to West Springfield, 75-59.  The four teams will meet again in February with Malden playing West Springfield and Westfield taking on Medford.  The games will take place at Framingham State College.  Malden returns to the court this Thursday night at 7pm in the nightcap of their 8th annual Holiday Tournament, taking on Swampscott High School.  For the second straight year, the tournament will be hosted by both the Malden girls and boys varsity teams on December 27th and 28th.  The 8 team tournament starts each day at 1 pm.  On the boys' side will be Malden, Swampscott, Snowden and Wakefield.  The girls' side will feature Malden, Danvers, Swampscott and Wakefield.