The MHS Boys Basketball team played against Pembroke High School at the Boston TD Garden invitational game, which ended in a nail biting double overtime victory for MHS with the score of 66-64, improving their record to 9-4.
The first two points in the game were scored by Senior captain Fern Berard. However, after a 14-4 deficient at the end of the first quarter, the three fouls that Berard picked up early on, the team had a challenging task ahead.
With five minutes left of the the second quarter, Pembroke had a seven point lead, with the score 11-18.
In the third quarter with 2:10 remaining, Berard made a layup bringing the team from 31 to 33 points, which was the first lead for Malden since the beginning of the game, with the score of 33-32. The final score of the third quarter resulted in Pembroke having a 4 point lead, 33-37.
Malden was able to have a three point lead, with a score of 42-39, during the fourth quarter with 5:21 left of the game. Sophomore Cameron Lloyd shot a two pointer with 3:51 remaining in the fourth quarter, thereby increasing the lead to five points. Senior Thomas Redwood also scored a two pointer thus maintaining the lead with a score of 48-41.
With 2:10 left of the fourth quarter, Lloyd made a clutch three pointer creating the biggest lead Malden has had throughout the game, 51-41. Pembroke was forced to call a timeout with 17.9 seconds remaining. Berard got fouled which resulted in him having the opportunity to tie the game with two free throws, in which he was able to rattle them both down. With 3.3 seconds left of the fourth quarter, the game was tied 51-51, causing both teams to advance to overtime.
Malden won the tip off and Senior Malik Bisset scored a two pointer, now only 1:30 left in overtime, Malden was up with a score of 55-53. Pembroke managed to obtain a one point lead, 56-55, when Senior Tyler Holness was f
ouled with 6.8 seconds remaining in overtime. Although Holness was able to score one out of the three free throws, Bisset caught the rebound causing Malden to get possession of the ball.
Berard was fouled with only one second remaining in overtime. Succeeding in scoring both free throws, the game became tied 58-58, bringing the game to double overtime.
Bisset attempted to score a two pointer, despite missing, Berard tipped the ball in securing the score 60-60. Lloyd was able to step up and shoot a three pointer with 1:32, Malden was then leading by two points.
Holness was fouled with 32 seconds of double overtime with a score of 66-63. Fern picked up his fourth foul, with only 9.3 seconds remaining. Malden finalized the win with a score of 66-64.
Junior Robens Garcia came to an agreement with Holness that the two free throws made by Berard, tying up the score, which brought the team from overtime to double overtime, was the highlight of the game.
Although Garcia made it clear that multiple teammates had a great performance, he pointed out that Berard had a great performance especially. Additionally, he added that players such as Holness, Bisset, and Lloyd also had a great performance in which he said “grabbing rebounds and making clutch shots.”
Despite having an exceptional game, Holness believes that having an active bench, colliding more, and working as a team needs to be improved upon. Likewise, Berard and Garcia agree that starting off strong is still a factor that also needs to be improved. Garcia stated, “[they] definitely need to improve on [their] teamwork like working together more... when [they] have the lead in a game, [they] have to keep that lead and make it bigger.”
Berard also added that starting off stronger and building a bigger lead is what he wish had gone differently.
Holness explained that the team played good as a unit however, he said “Individually, that was probably [his] worst game in the season, [he] did not hit [his] free throws when [he] needed to.” He continued to explain that Berard is a key player on their team and he “gets the job done.”
Moreover, Berard described that their defense needs improvement. He said, “[they] were letting guys score too easy, [they] were giving too many open shots. So, [he] felt like [they] needed to stop that in order to have a easier game.”
Garcia revealed that not once did he or his other teammates doubt one another. They all had confidence in one another that this would be a successful game. Similarly, Holness said he “has faith” in his teammates.
Berard explained he has never been in double overtime and says the excitement was “crazy” but still fun.
The boys MHS basketball team had an outstanding game which resulted in many great performances from many members.
