"We played a solid three quarters but then really lost it at both ends in that 4th quarter." Malden Head Man Don Nally said after his team's defeat. "Basketball is a 4 quarter game and, unfortunately, our guys took the fourth quarter off tonight."

 

Malden led 18-14 after once quarter thanks to a 16-6 close of the quarter.  Junior forward Bernard Taylor delivered 10 of his career-high 12 points in the first half and helped the Tornadoes build a 6 point lead heading into the 3rd quarter.  Malden's defense was instrumental in holding the long range shooting Bedford to just 2-18 from 3pt land in the first half.

 

"I thought we closed out really well in that first half and contested all their shots." Nally added. "We knew they'd continue to challenge us from long range in the second half and I thought we did a good job up until that 4 quarter."

 

Malden built their lead to as high as 13 points in the second half thanks to the contributions of the captains, senior Mark Rogers and junior Nate Ilebode.  Rogers scored 9 of his 11 points in the first half while Ilebode scored 13 of his team high 17 points in the second half.  After missing their first half 3pt attempts of the second half, however, the Buccaneers rallied to hit 5 of their last 9 attempts to close the gap and eventually take the lead late into the 4th quarter.

 

Malden will now play Burlington in the consolation game on Monday night to try and salvage a game from the tournament and avoid a 4th straight defeat.  Game time is set for 5pm.

 

Tornado Boxscore: Ilebode 17pts, Taylor 12pts, Rogers 11pts, Isaiah Likely 8pts, Fern Berard 4pts, Danny Fuentes 2pts, Louis LoConte 2pts,