MALDEN HIGH SPORTS: One-two punch adds up to pair of Tornado Boys Basketball wins

Sekamwa (23 pts.) powers 63-52 win over Brooke Charter; Minervini (18 pts.) leads way over East Boston, 57-51; Malden Girls off to a 4-2 start; Exilhomme and Antoine leaders

By Steve Freker

They certainly needed a win after coming up snake-eyes for the first two weeks of the season. The only saving grace, perhaps, was that the 0-4 start was assuredly not sitting well with the Tornados. Not at all.

“We played well in stretches, it seemed like we were one or two good runs away from pulling out a win [in other games],” said 20-year Malden High Boys Basketball Head Coach Don Nally. “I’ll say this, though, these guys were well aware of that and they were not happy with how we started.

“They all agreed we were better than this, every one of them,” the Malden coach added.

Last Tuesday afternoon (December 30), the Malden team channelled all the negative emotions — frustration, most of all — into hard work and positive energy, and it paid off in the team’s first win of the season, a 57-51 victory over East Boston in the consolation game of the 2025 Revere Holiday Tournament. A lot was different about the East Boston game, starting with the final result, which left Malden at 1-4 overall heading into Sunday’s non-league bout with visiting Brooke Charter School. Sparked by another solid team effort — led by sophomore Shawn Sekamwa (career-high 23 points), Malden made it back-to-back wins for the first time since way back in the 2023-2024 season.

The win lifted Malden to 2-4 overall heading into Tuesday night’s “back to the Greater Boston League” matchup at Lynn Classical, a 66-38 loss. Malden is now 2-5 overall and played another GBL game last night (Thursday) after Advocate press time, hosting Revere at the Finn Gym.

Looking ahead, Malden plays at Medford on Tuesday, January 13 (6:00 p.m.), and hosts Lynn English on Thursday, January 15, at the Finn Gym (6:00 p.m.), both GBL games.

In the East Boston game, first off, for the only time so far this season, some legitimate offensive rhythm arrived. Three Malden starters scored in double figures for the first and only time this season, and it made a heck of a difference. Sophomore Justin Minervini led the way with a career single-game high of 18 points, including a pair of first-quarter “threes” that got Malden off to a great start, on its way to a 29-26 half-time lead. It was the first time Malden led at halftime all season. Minervini was joined in the balanced attack by senior captain Colin Okoth, who scored a season-high 13 points, and sophomore forward Shawn Sekamwa, with another season-high, 11 points.

Malden extended its lead to 47-40 after three quarters and then cooled off a bit as East Boston rallied back to cut the lead to 53-50, before Malden held on with the win. “Justin [Minervini] and Colin [Okoth] had their best games and it was a real team effort. Nice for the players to get paid off with a win,” Coach Nally said.

Malden 63, Brooke Charter School 52

Shawn Sekamwa poured in a career-high 23 points and Malden matched the physical play of visiting Brooke Charter School on a rare Sunday matinee game in Malden, a Golden Tornado win, 63-52. Not only was it Malden’s highest offensive output of the season, it was the Tornados’ best overall effort — on both ends of the court — according to their coach.

“It was good to see us creating scoring chances and then cashing in from several guys instead of relying on just one or two,” said Head Coach Don Nally, on the back-to-back win, “but we also played great defense and played tough against a very athletic and physical team.”

Malden led by just a point at halftime, 29-28, and then maintained a small lead for most of the second half, as Brooke Charter did not relent, but neither did the Tornados.

For the first game this season, Malden placed three players in double figures: Sekamwa with the career single-game high of 23 points, his sophomore classmate Justin Minervini with 14 points and senior forward/captain Colin Okoth with 13 points. Senior guard Chace Bolling, whom Coach Nally said has also been contributing solid minutes in recent games, had a career high as well with 7 points. Sophomore guard Allen Deris and senior point guard/captain Ryan McMahon each added a bucket

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Malden Girls Basketball in the middle of the GBL mix

Malden High Girls Basketball is off to a 4-3 start (2-2 Greater Boston League) and in the middle of the mix in the league. Head Coach Scott Marino’s squad went 1-1 over the winter break, dropping a game to non-leaguer Greater Lawrence Tech on the road on Dec. 29 and then staying on the road for a 47-43 victory over non-leaguer Lynn Tech on Jan. 2. In the win over Lynn Tech, junior captain Manicha Exilhomme dropped 16 points to lead Malden. Senior Jaziarra Antoine scored 11 points and had 7 rebounds for the Tornados in the win.

Malden dropped a 55-46 GBL game at home to Lynn Classical on Tuesday night at the Finn Gym to go to 4-3 overall. The Tornados went down 16-0 in the first quarter before battling back to play basically even for most of the way, after trailing, 22-6, after the first period. Malden was down 33-24 at halftime after getting 9 second quarter points from Tornado game-high scorer, Exilhomme, who tossed in 17 points. Antoine added 9 points, as did Jenesa Perez Sims.

Malden was on the road against GBL rival Medford last night (Thursday, Jan. 8) against first-place Medford (3-0 GBL) at 6:00 p.m.

Malden Coed swim splashes past Somerville

The Malden Coed swim team picked up its first win of the season this week, with a 93-76 win over host Somerville at the John F. Kennedy School Pool. Malden improved to 1-2 on the season after losses to Medford and non-leaguer Mystic Valley to start the winter competition.

Yesterday’s meet scheduled with Lynn English was cancelled, and the Golden Tornado squad is back in action on Tuesday, January 13, vs. Lynn Classical at Malden High at 4:30 p.m.