Merry Soars to New Heights for Falcons' Basketball

George Merry, the six-foot, seven-inch junior center for the Danvers High boys basketball team, had a sense from the very start of last Saturday night's win against Revere that he had the opportunity for a good game.

In fact, Merry had a very good night, . Dominating the paint like no North Shore player has for quite some time, Merry registered a stunning double-double with 40 points and 24 rebounds in the Falcons' 73-60 victory.

Unconfirmed reports place Merry's outburst as the second-highest single game point total in Danvers High history.

“Coming in, we knew it was a huge game for us and that we really had to get after it. One of the first plays we ran was designed for me and I could tell right away the kid they had on me wasn't doing a very good job even though he was my height, so we kept running pretty much the same play,” said Merry.

Revere faced a double-edged sword. Concentrating on Merry left senior co-captain Sean Mahegan (18 points) free to light it up. Shifting to Mahegan meant Merry could score at will. In the end, the Patriots had no answer for either of the Falcons' stalwarts aside from switching the athletic Trae Weathers from one to the other in the hopes of disrupting the Falcons' flow.

“They started with Trae on Sean because their main focus was to make sure he wasn't going to beat them. Then they put Trae on me and he's a rock, but with my height advantage, I could get up and over him,” Merry said.

Told by teammates at halftime that he had 22 points, Merry was skeptical. He expressed similar surprise at game's end upon learning he had reached rare air by putting 40 on the board.

“It was pretty incredible – he must've shot around 80 percent. And, as well as he scored, he rebounded like a maniac. I knew he had a great first half, but I wasn't sure he could sustain it in the second half. He only had three points in the third quarter so, when you look at it, he had 37 points in three quarters. Some teams don't score 40 points in a game – look at us against Marblehead,” said Danvers coach John Walsh referring to the .

Merry said rebounding is the strength of his game. He also possesses an arsenal of slick low-post moves augmented by the ability to get his shot off quickly.

“When George fights to stay on the blocks, like he did against Revere, he's an absolute force. He also has very soft hands for a big guy and pretty good touch from 10 to 12 feet. Defensively, his length is intimidating. He changes shots, even if he doesn't block them. He's about nine feet tall when he puts his arms up,” Walsh said.

When not playing basketball, Merry can most likely be found on the golf course, honing his game to a level that earned him Northeastern Conference MVP honors last fall. Of the two sports, he prefers the solitude and singular challenge of golf and hopes to continue his career in college, preferably somewhere “in the Carolinas, or Florida, so I can play all year.”

For now, his immediate focus is on helping the 7-9 Falcons secure a post-season tournament berth. To do so, they must win three of their final four games, starting with tonight's trip to face a 12-4 Winthrop squad.

“I think we can definitely do it and, if we play the way we did against Salem and Revere, I think we can win all four. Winthrop is definitely our biggest game right now and will set the tone for the rest of the season,” Merry said.

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