By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High boy’s basketball season wrapped up their season this week after not making the cut for playoffs, but the team gave fans plenty to cheer for in recent home efforts, including a Senior Night celebration Friday evening at a packed MVMMS gym.
Honored were the team’s 7 seniors, John Arens, John Lamas, Owen Mujalli, Nolan Natale, Sam Houppert, Divine Abonghagbonse and Jacob Canlas. The MHS cheer squad also honored their seniors and, collectively, fans and family celebrated their 2024-5 season prior to the start of the game against Watertown, which Melrose lost, 61-46.
Melrose sent to the floor seniors Mujalli, Natale, Lamas, Arens and Canlas and saw contributions from Abonghagbonse and Houppert, who stole the night with late game theatrics. Overall, Melrose was led in scoring by these seniors including John Lamas with 17 points, Owen Mujalli with 12 and John Arens with 10.
Melrose coach Dan Burns tipped his cap to his upperclassmen who he considers a classy bunch. “The seniors were so good to the underclassmen and really worked with them consistently throughout their time here in the program. I’ve had many many young players say how nice the seniors were to them and as a coach that is so great to hear. The seniors fought hard all the way to the end [of the season]. Many of these guys have been with me for 3-4 years. Not the ending record wise we were looking for but the relationships and experience we shared is really what it is all about.”
Melrose had a dynamic first half against Watertown. They had to fend off Will Carty, a 6’10 force who owned rebounds and shot threes from the outside. And despite Melrose being down 13-17 at the end of the first, Melrose roared to life in the second behind dynamic shooting from John Arens and Nolan Natale who hit a pair of threes to give Melrose their first lead of the game 22-19. Lamas, who scored 8 points in the first, had fans on their feet when he scored a layup and-one, and Connor Smith was clean on the foul line to keep Melrose ahead 26-19. Melrose had no trouble penetrating Watertown defense and Lamas had a nice floater to keep Melrose up 28-21. He’d be temporarily in foul trouble towards the half against Watertown’s Carty, but stayed in the whole game.
After half time, Watertown game back to life, outshooting Melrose 17-4 in the third. Melrose entered the fourth down 32-46. But they saw nice work from Mujalli and Lamas to keep the game within 10. With just a minute left in the game, fan favorite Sam Houppert stepped back into the game and had the whole building on their feet with a perfectly executed three pointer. It was a finale that fitted a rather unpredictable season. Melrose wraps up a 7-13 season after sliding into a consecutive-game losing streak in the last two weeks of play. Melrose started the season 5-1 so it was a significant twist for fans and players.
“The kids/ team hung in there,” says their coach. “You can only lose so much. We really had some games that were 50/50. Sometimes you just get unlucky.”
One factor this season was the pure strength of the Freedom League, which unlike other seasons, saw 12-win teams like Stoneham, Watertown and Wilmington roll over opponents. That was not reflected in MIAA Power Rankings, however, as Melrose spent much of the season on the outskirts of the top 33. This could be something that might rankle coaches in the league alike.
“I wasn’t surprised at all,” says Burns of the depth of Freedom teams. “Every year the Freedom division is a grind. However, this was the first year in a very long time that Freedom had more wins over Liberty. The league was really tough and we had many one possession games that came down to the last shot and we just couldn’t pull it out,” notes Burn. “We had some kids with the flu etc., but it allowed for others to step up and have an opportunity.”
Melrose will have big shoes to fill next season but will have tested players like Jack Casey and Connor Smith to help lead. There is a lot of opportunity for those who want to make their mark on the program, especially underclassmen. Especially those whose main concentration is hoop.
“Our league will be extremely hard next year,” says Burns. “We lose a lot and every team in the league returns pretty much everyone. I really hope we can have a great off-season and we will need to make basketball a priority in order to be competitive because the Middlesex League seems to be changing. You need athletes, but you now also need basketball players: kkids who really eat, sleep, and breathe basketball. Hopefully guys will buy in and we can hit the ground running because we have a big challenge next winter.”