Malden Catholic returns to the Div. 2 state boys basketball final
WOBURN >> Making consecutive trips to a title game isn’t easy.
Yet Malden Catholic is back where they were 12 months ago.
Nicholas Martinez and Matthew Gaffney registered 18 points apiece Monday, as the top-seeded Lancers overcame a 15-point deficit en route to punching a ticket to the Div. 2 boys basketball finals for a second straight season with a 66-54 victory over No. 5 Charlestown at Woburn Memorial High School.
These two programs had previously met twice this season, with Malden Catholic (222) taking both contests (a 6664 win on Dec. 13, followed by a 76-66 victory Feb. 14). However, for most of the first half Monday, Charlestown controlled the pace of play.
After the Lancers opened the game by seizing a 7-2 lead, the Townies answered with a 13-0 scoring run of their own to jump ahead, 15-7.
Then with 5:31 to play in the first half, sophomore Jaylin Crawford-Williams drilled a three-pointer to provide Charlestown its largest advantage of the night at 24-9.
“They were ready to play,” Gaffney said afterward. “We had already played them twice, we knew what to expect. They knew what to expect. They just came out more hot, more aggressive, more physical. We just weren’t ready in the first five or six minutes. Then, once we started hitting our threes, we just came back into it.”
With his team in desperate need of a spark late in the second quarter, Gaffney stepped up for Malden Catholic. The sophomore guard buried three consecutive triples in rapid succession, shaving the deficit to 26-24 with just under two minutes left in the frame.
With former teammates such as Tony Felder Jr. roaring them on from the stands, the Lancers suddenly had life.
“(We had to) just relax,” said Malden Catholic coach John Walsh. “Relax, you know what I mean? Just try to creep back in, then Matt hit four threes in like four possessions, it was something crazy. That got us back in and we cut it to three by the half. We felt comfortable at that point.”
Once the third quarter began, the momentum continued for Malden Catholic. Ben Howard provided the Lancers a 32-30 lead off a layup with 5:01 to go, and they would pull away from there.
With 4:07 left in regulation, Martinez forced a steal, then drove coast-to-coast for a contested layup to make it 56-45, sealing the victory.
In addition to the performances of Gaffney and Martinez, Malden Catholic also received a fantastic outing from Buckley (Bo) Moody (15 points). The junior guard finished 5-for-9 from threepoint land.
Charlestown was led by Crawford-Williams (20
WOBURN, MA - March 13, 2023: Charlestown’s Jaylen Hunter-Coleman and Malden Catholic’s Nicholas Martinez compete for a rebound. points, six rebounds, six blocks) and freshman Jaylen Hunter-Coleman (16 points).
Malden Catholic will now attempt to capture its second straight Div. 2 crown this upcoming weekend.
“We’re just going to go in, we’re going to play our game,” said Martinez. “We’re not going to try and change anything. Whatever Walsh tells us, we’re going to do. We’re going to try to execute it, and we’ll just see what goes on from there.”