Malden: And the kids shall lead them. After trailing the entire game and needing an extra session, the Malden Golden Tornadoes turned to two underclassmen, sophomore guard Jorge Salgado and freshmen forward Nate Ilebode to close out a feisty Panthers' squad, 70-68. Malden had already lost two of their three captains, seniors Loveng Francois and Bryan Mitchell both having fouled out late in the game and were without the services of senior Niko Delucian, out with a sprained ankle. So Coach Don Nally turned to his bench and a spark was provided by his two youngest players. Salgado took a pass from junior forward Anthony Gilardi, crossed over into the lane and dumped a pass off to Ilebode who banked a short jumper in to give the Tornadoes their final lead with under 10 seconds to play. A last second 3pt attempt by the Panthers missed the mark to preserve the victory.
"I've been telling our bench all season to stay ready." said Malden Head Coach Don 'Gipper' Nally, who secured his 100th win as varsity coach with the victory. "Nate and Jorge have worked extremely hard in practice all year and it was rewarding to see that play work for them."
That Malden was even in position to win the game was a minor miracle in and of itself. After a fairly even first half that found the Tornadoes trailing by just five points, 34-29, at the break, Malden came unglued in the 3rd quarter, giving up 19 points and trailing 53-38 heading into the 4th quarter. After cutting the lead to six points, the Tornadoes trailed again by 10 with under 2 minutes to play and it appeared Nally would be stuck at 99 wins for at least one more game.
"I have to admit, at that point, I thought maybe we had just run out of steam." Nally admitted after the game. "We fought so hard to cut the lead down, I wasn't sure we had a finishing kick in us, but they stepped up."
Led by Gilardi, who led all scorers with 28 points to go along with 15 rebounds, and guards Francois and sophomore Mark Rogers, Malden staged a furious rally late, knotting the game at 61 on a Gilardi put back with 16 seconds left. Malden got the ball back but a late turnover gave Beverly the ball with under 5 seconds left. The Panthers nearly pulled the game out on a nearly flawless full court play but missed an open 3pt field goald as time expired.
In overtime, Malden traded baskets until the final seconds before Ilebode and Salgado sealed the deal with their last second play. The win improves Malden to 6-2 on the season as they head into Thursday night's showdown with Cambridge at the Finn Gym. Malden then returns to the floor on Saturday as they make a trip to the TD Bank Garden to take on Lynn Classical at 1:00PM.
