Redmen Close Season With Loss to Melrose

The  closed its season with a 55-38 loss to Melrose Tuesday night.

The Redmen were able to keep things close during the first quarter, but after that, were unable to get their offense untracked.

Senior center Andrew Scocca led all scorers with 26 points, and sophomore Matt Sherlock added 17 points for Melrose, while the Redmen were paced by

“We just wanted to come out and take care of business,” said Scocca. “We did that.”

Melrose finishes at 11-9, with the program’s first trip to the MIAA North Sectionals since 2000 securely in the bag, while Tewksbury’s season ends at 2-18.

“Sometimes these games are trap games,” said Melrose head coach Mike Kasprzak. “We played a little sloppy in the first quarter, but when we had to, we buckled down.”

Tewksbury managed to keep things close early on, trailing just 13-10 after the opening stanza, but by halftime, the Red Raiders had stretched their lead to 28-18, and would allow the opposition to get no closer.

“(Melrose) is playing really well,” said . “(Scocca) is a really good player. He was too much for us to handle tonight.

“We came out and played well in the first quarter ... unfortunately, we couldn’t keep them out of the lane, and they were able to get the ball inside.”

Scocca drew a persistent double team all night, and this enabled the Red Raiders to capitalize on the open looks created by the extra attention commanded down low. Sherlock was the key beneficiary of this scenario, as the lion’s share of his 17 points came from outside shooting.

The third quarter saw Scocca completely take over the game, scoring 13 of the 15 points credited to Melrose in the frame, while his supporting cast held Tewksbury to 9 points in the third, following the 8 allowed in the second quarter.

“One guy who played particularly well was Denzel Jones,” said Kasprzak. “He had a lot of energy tonight ... Nate Trippe played very well on defense also ... he’s usually an offensive guy, but he got it done on defense tonight.”

The Red Raiders had little trouble the rest of the way, coasting to victory, and will now head into postseason play with a bonafide head of steam on its shoulders. Tewksbury on the other hand, closes the book on a season that has been nothing if not trying. Sullivan credits his senior leadership with holding the squad together during the rigors of a 2-18 campaign.

“Our seniors are troopers for us,” he said. “They’re great leaders and they set good examples for us every day. Joe Hulme, Sean Gorman and Craig Semenza, they’re all really close to my heart. I’m going to miss those guys; I wish we could have had a better season for them this year.”