Melrose shows guts & glory in clash against Lexington
Published October 25, 2019
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—A large home crowd greeted the Melrose Unified Red Raider Basketball team, who hosted their home opener on Monday, Oct. 22 against Lexington and put on quite a show for their devoted fans.
This is the second year of MHS Unified Basketball, a collaboration between MHS students with and without disabilities in the spirit that promotes inclusion, respect and teamwork. On the Melrose roster for the Lexington game were Aiden Downey, James Donovan, Dan Freed, Claire Morse, Gina Delgenio, James Kavanaugh, Jack Jaggers, Harry Jaggers, Kevin Burke, Erik Rego, Alex Revutchi, Taylor Pesce and Elana Simard, who offered a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
This season, Melrose will face Middlesex League rivals such as Lexington, who visited the MMVMS gym on Monday and engaged in a hard-nosed and spirited game. While the Minutemen showed some bite with scoring from Matt Devine and Malachai McDonald, Melrose was relentless in scoring on their own, with Kevin Burke leading with 12 points. Unified Melrose got on the board first behind baskets from Burke and Erik Rego and enjoyed smothering defense from James Donovan and Alex Revutchi and generous assist from Aiden Downey. Meanwhile, James Kavanaugh brought down the house in the second with a rousing steal turned layup that had fans on their feet.
Kavanaugh opened the third nearly hitting a three while Alex Revutchi killed it with back-to-back baskets. Burke and Erik Rego went on an offensive tear, then Donovan hit an impressive shot but Lexington pulled away at the end for a final, 44-32 game.
After the game, Melrose head coach Matt Manfredi spoke about how proud he was of his team’s efforts so far their season. Last week they traveled to Waltham to take on the Hawks.
“We’ve come a long way in the two weeks we’ve been playing,” he said. “Our team is growing in numbers and it’s nice to see a good crowd here supporting us. And it’s a blast. Every minute they’re out there they’re having fun.”
Season schedule
(games held at MVMMS gym)
Tuesday, 10/29 v. Bedford, home 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, 11/7 v. Waltham, home 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 11/12 v. Malden, home 4:00 p.m.