~ RHS Patriots Sports Roundup ~

Revere girls hoop clinches share of GBL title

The Revere High School girls basketball team keeps rolling. The team beat Somerville, 24-15, and clinched at least a share of the Greater Boston League title.

Alisha Jean led the team with 11 points and three rebounds. Shayna Smith added six points and eight rebounds.

Revere boys hoops splits last two

The Revere boys beat Greater Lowell, 67-62, in its final home game of the season.

The Patriots knocked off the Gryphons at their place two weeks prior by a score of 58-49 but that was a much closer game than the score suggested, according to Revere coach David Leary.

Junior guard Ethan Day (33 points, five rebounds, four assists) had a career night, scoring 14 points in the third quarter including a 3-pointer from the top to push the Patriots lead to 50-38 with one quarter remaining.

Junior guard Avi Lung added 14 pts, four steals and four assists. His 3-pointer late in the fourth kept Greater Lowell at bay.

Day and Lung combined shot 6-for-7 from the free throw line down the stretch as Greater Lowell was fouling intentionally to stop the clock.

“We did not make it easy on ourselves, but Greater Lowell is well-coached, young and hungry. They came at us all night,” Leary said. “We had a lot of guys step up and obviously Ethan had himself a game offensively. Nice to have Avi back to 100%, and we had struggled with free throw shooting at points this year but we hit some big ones to close it out. Good team win.”

Somerville completed a season sweep of Revere, 55-45.

Seniors Ryan El Babor, Domenic Belmonte, Amir Yamani and co-captains Luke Ellis and Andrew Leone were honored with their families to an on-court ceremony pre-game. The five seniors were also announced as the starters prior to RHS Class of 2020 Miss Olivia Freni’s beautiful rendition of the National Anthem.

Ellis had 12 points and four rebounds. Leone added four points and eight rebounds. El Babor tossed in a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds Lung scored seven while adding four steals and as many assists. Day added 12 pts and five boards.

“We obviously wanted to win the game for our seniors and our team, but give Somerville credit. They made the big shots late to take it,” Leary said. “What an atmosphere we had here for these guys. The student body, friends and families really came out and made it a special night for our seniors. Luke tried to bring the house down early with all of the threes, Ryan played his best game of the year and Dom, Amir and Andrew all competed hard. Hopefully they and their families will cherish this night regardless of the final score.”

Revere boys, girls shine at MSCTA track meet

The Revere boys had a few highlights from Saturday’s MSCTA Qualifying Meet, which took place at Reggie Lewis Center on Saturday.

The 4×200-meter relay team set a new school record in 1:34.02. The team consisted of senior Medy Bellemsieh, junior Oliver Escobar, sophomore Jeremy X, and senior JV Cunha. The prior school record was 1:34.41 set in 2012 by Joe Ritchie, Younes Hartout, Robert Rose and John Lopes.

“Medy had an average start, but turned on the jets about 40-50 meters in and ran a spectacular opening leg,” Revere coach David Fleming said. As he’s done all year, Oliver got the baton and looked like he was exploded out of a cannon. He ran a really fast second leg. The handoff from Oliver to Jeremy wasn’t entirely smooth, but Jeremy ran another strong leg and got the baton to JV, who had a blazing anchor leg. JV’s split, which was in the 22-second range, was the difference that carried the team to the record.”

Cunha won the 600 meters in 1:23.54. “JV was in control from the opening gun, lead the entire way and made it look easy,” Fleming said. “He’s so strong right now. He’s great shape heading into the D1 State Meet this week.”

Isaiah DeCrosta finished second in the 55-meter hurdles.

“Zay’s been frustrated with a football-related injury this season, but he’s back,” Fleming said. “As usual, girls head coach Racquel MacDonald-Ciambelli gets the coaching credit for Zay’s success in the hurdles.”

Bellemsieh finished first in his heat and seventh overall in the 300-meter with a time of 37.13, which was a new personal record. “If Medy was in the top heat, he would have run faster,” Fleming said. “Overall, I think he was happy with how he performed in his first 300-meter race, but he was a bit frustrated knowing he could have gone faster.   Either way, it’s a good tune-up for Medy, who will be running with JV in the 600 in the D1 State Meet.”

Sophomore Edwin Alarcon set a new personal record with a time of 2:50.78 in the 1,000 meters.

“Edwin won his heat after moving into the lead in the first 100 meters,” Fleming said.   “He went out fast in about 30 seconds for 200 meters and about 61 for 400. He paid the price toward the end but had enough left for the win. It’s been fun to watch Edwin’s progression in the 1,000. He’s worked hard and has chopped approximately 20 seconds off his time this season.”

On the girls side, Liv Yuong broke another school record this weekend at the MSTCA State Qualifiers Meet. She jumped 15-10 in the indoor long jump which topped the old school record by .75. This is her second school record and ensures that she will compete in three events this Thursday at the D1 State Meet.

“She’s just a super-talented athlete, and she’s so coachable,” MacDonald-Ciambelli said.  “She takes advice well and applies it to each of her events. It’s incredible that she’s only a junior, and I know she will keep rewriting these record books.”

This is Revere’s list of competitors on Thursday:

Yuong: 55-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump

Gemma Stamatopoulos: 600-meter

Olivia Rupp: mile

Gisele Salvador, Danni Hope Randall, Jaliyah Manigo, Ashley Cabrera Rodriguez: 4×200-meter relay.