THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, February 3, 2023 Page 13 Malden High School Boys and Girls Basketball both in contention for postseason berths following big wins over Chelsea By Steve Freker L ed by an 18-point, season-high scoring performance from junior Zeke Noelsaint and some solid team defense, the Malden High School boys’ basketball squad rolled to a 62-31 win over visiting Chelsea at Roy Finn Gym in Malden Tuesday. The victory stopped a 4-game slide for the Tornados and buoyed their drive for a potential MIAA Division 1 State Tournament berth. With the win, Malden improved to 8-7 overall and need at least 2 wins of their final 5 games to get to the postseason for the first time since 2018. "We needed that win after some struggles lately," said 18thyear Malden head coach Don Nally, "We got into a rut where the shots just weren't falling, but we stuck with it and got this win. We need to be more consistent on the offensive end, but fortunately guys like Zeke (Noelsaint) and Jonald (Joseph) stepped up tonight." Malden got a team-wide defensive effort against Chelsea led by senior captain Joseph (12 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 blocked shots) and freshman Ethan Phejarasai (4 steals, 5 rebounds). Off the bench Malden got solid minutes from sophomore Nate Sullivan (4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 5 points) and senior Aiden Tham (6 points). Senior captain Justin Bell scored 11 points against ChelEthan Phejarasai (10) takes it up court in a win over Chelsea to stop a 4-game down streak. sea. Malden was coming off a tough stretch with consecutive league losses to Medford, league leader Lynn English, Everett (62-59) and Somerville (40-39). Malden was on the road last night at Lynn Classical, after Advocate press time and hosts Revere on Tuesday, February 7 at 6:00 p.m. **** Malden High girls’ roll to 9-6 overall, one win away from clinching tourney spot Head coach Scott Marino's Malden High girls’ basketball team blasted Chelsea, 51-31 to improve to 9-6 overall and one Zeke Noelsaint (22) led all scorers with 18 points, above he drives against Chelsea. win away from back-to-back state tournament berths. "We are playing hard and we have been putting away some opponents, but we still have lots of work to do to get better," Coach Marino said. "What is great is that this is an extremely young team and they are willing to put in the work to get better," Coach Marino said. "We are very close to one of our biggest goals, which is making it to the State Tournament. We are very close." Malden's first shot at that goal came last night at home versus Lynn Classical.Malden also plays on the road Tuesday, February 7 at 6:00 p.m. Postseason remains in reach for the Everett boys’ co-op hockey team Crimson Tide gets ready to host league rival Medford Saturday afternoon By Joe McConnell T he Everett High School boys’ hockey co-op team (3-4 in the Greater Boston League, 5-6 overall) remains on track to qualify for the state tournament with nine games still left on the regular season schedule. “We have a lot of games left, and we are starting to gel at the right time,” said coach Craig Richards. “We’re staying in the hunt, because we don’t give up a lot of shots on goal. We’re getting good defensive coverage in front of our goalies.” The Crimson Tide icemen defeated St. Joseph’s Prep in a nonleague game at the Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton last Saturday, 8-1. The game was called in the middle of the second period, because a St. Joe’s player had to be wheeled off the ice and taken to the hospital via ambulance after falling to the ice. It turned out to be nothing serious, nothing broken, according to Richards, who talked to The Phoenix coach Rob Dwyer the next day. Michael Brandano of Everett helped pace the offensive attack for the Tide in this game with two goals. The Everett co-op then lost to host Taunton Monday night, 6-2. The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one period, but the visitors trimmed the deficit to one after two, 3-2, before the home team lit the lamp three more times in the third to seal the deal. Everett senior David Saia notched the first goal against Taunton from Brandano. Revere senior Austin Annunziata then accounted for the other goal assisted by his classmate Chris Cecca and junior Matt LaCroix, also from Revere. Junior goalie Ben Rosa played all but the final three minutes of the game, and ended up making 15 saves. Aaron Al-Marayati, also a junior, manned the net for the remainder of the game. After taking on non-league host Lowell on Feb. 1 after press deadline, the Tide has since returned home to face GBL rival Medford Saturday at the Allied Veterans Memorial Rink, starting at 2 p.m.
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