New scoring record highlights thrilling, 98-89 3OT win
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The history books were dusted off on Feb. 5, 2025 at the Charbonneau Field House.
Jack Millward, a junior captain on the Wakefield boys’ basketball team, set a new school record by scoring 51 points in a 98-89 triple overtime victory over Salem. Millward out-dueled Salem’s sophomore star Elian Rodriguez who finished with 50.
Perhaps the most important numbers besides the final score were 7 and 1. That’s how many points Millward and Rodriguez scored, respectively, in the third overtime as Wakefield was finally able to pull away to win a wild game that made headlines throughout the state.
Wakefield (10-8) has since officially punched their ticket to the Div. 2 state tournament with a 70-63 win over Wilmington last night, a game in which, oh by the way, Millward scored the 2nd most points in school history with 44. A full story will have to wait.
The box score alone should go into glass cases of trophies and sports memories at Wakefield High.
Along with his 51, Millward added 8 rebounds, 3 steals and a somewhat unfathomable 7 assists. All due respect to Rodriguez, whose incredible performance himself made this one an instant classic, but it’s those assists combined with the scoring record that puts Millward’s masterpiece into the museum. The 6’4” guard/forward scored 40 twice earlier in the year against Woburn and Needham, matching Mark Plansky, the ’85 Villanova national champ who had 40 in a 1983 state championship game victory. The record, however, still belonged to Brett Okundaye who dropped 42 in a double overtime victory over Burlington in 2021.
It wasn’t just a one-on-one game either. Plenty of Warriors had performances to spellbound the crowd against the Witches.
Senior captain Matthew Beaver (17 pts, 12 reb) was a bucket and a rebound away from a double-double…at halftime.
Junior Dylan McDermott (16 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast) knocked down 4 3-pointers.
Senior captain Jackson Fitzpatrick (10 pts, 12 reb, 6 ast) was his typical physical, yet versatile self.
Altogether, Wakefield overcame a 35-31 halftime deficit, exploding for 28 points in the 3rd quarter, in which Millward had 15 of his 51.
Behind 13 from Rodriguez, Salem punched back in the 4th, erasing a 59-53 deficit to take a 72-70 lead in the final seconds before Millward tied it at the free throw line with 9 seconds left, forcing OT after the Warrior defense held on.
Rodriguez kept the visitors alive in the first overtime, scoring 6 points, his last bucket tying it 79-79 with just seconds to go.
An incredible second overtime featured six lead changes, the most exciting for Wakefield coming on a Beaver corner 3 in front of the Warrior bench which turned an 86-85 deficit into an 88-86 lead with 10 seconds left. Not to be outdone — a natural response from Rodriguez on this night — Salem’s electric point guard made yet another incredible move to the hoop and finished to tie it once again with 2.3 left on the clock to force OT number three.
Finally, the Warriors had had enough of these Witches — going on a 10-1 run to end the game.
Perhaps the most fun fact of the night was that Millward had broken the scoring record without hitting a single 3-pointer. His 46 after two overtimes came on a combination of layups, floaters, and-one’s, mid-rangers and free throw shots, basically any form of bucket other than a triple.
It was only fitting then that he hit a 3 to kick off the 3rd OT and followed that up with a 3-point play on an and-one to make it 94-89.
Wakefield’s defense finally locked down Rodriguez and McDermott’s last long ball of the night in front of an elated Red Sea sealed the victory.
Here’s the best part…that was only game one.
If you love high school basketball, head to Salem High at 6 p.m. on this Valentine’s Day to witness the rematch. Salem has since moved to 14-3 on the season and is ranked No. 6 in Div. 3. This will be their final game of the regular season.
It will be the penultimate regular season game for Wakefield (10-8, No. 17 in D2) who travels to Beverly (13-6, No. 25 in Div. 1) for the finale on Monday night at 7 p.m.