McKelvey, Adumene lead Memorial past Central/West, 56-31

MANCHESTER, NH — Memorial center NyAsia McKelvey flirted with a rare triple-double and the Crusaders’ defense forced 22 turnovers, in a 56-31 win over crosstown rival Central/West, Friday night at Bronstein Gymnasium.

It was a much needed win for Memorial (3-4), which snapped a three-game losing streak. The 56 points are the most the Crusaders have scored in a game this season.

McKelvey finished with a game-high 17 points and dominated the paint with 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots. The 6-1 junior is rapidly becoming one of the best all-around frontcourt players in the state.

Memorial led, wire-to-wire, jumping out to an early 12-1 lead and never looking back. The Crusaders got contributions from everyone in their starting five. Senior guard Jocelyn Eosue had 15 points, including four 3-pointers. Senior guard Torele Adumene added 13 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. Senior Payton Moran scored just five points but she dished out six assists and added two steals.

“The kids decided to put the work in this week, and it showed,” said Memorial Head Coach Greg Cotreau. “I feel like now we have a blue print. We can tell the kids, ‘look, you put the work in and this was the result. Can we do this more?'”

Cotreau said that when Adumene and McKelvey are playing at the top of their game, his team can accomplish some special things, including a trip to the D-1 State Tournament.

“We hadn’t really had Torele and NyAsia play well in the same game. This game, they both stepped up. I feel like when those two are playing well, we can accomplish a lot more steps,” said Cotreau.

Tianna Mann led Central with 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Forward Chloe Murphy added 11 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

Central/West (1-7) was able to keep the game within reach. A 3-pointer by Mass late in the first quarter cut the Memorial lead to eight points (16-8).

“We’re making good steps every day. We always talk about wanting to get better every day,” said Central/West Head Coach Mike Weeners. “It doesn’t always result in wins yet. But we’re trying to put two teams together into one, so we have steps. And we have some young kids out here on the floor that we’re trying to get to work together.”

Memorial opened the second quarter with an 11-3 run, including a pair of “putbacks” by McKelvey, growing the lead to 29-11. Still, the Crusaders had trouble putting Central/West away.

Trailing by 14 at halftime, Central/West got back-to-back 3-pointers from Murphy and Mass to make it a 10-point game (31-21) with 6:11 to play in the third quarter, prompting Cotreau to call a timeout.

With Central/West double and triple-teaming McKelvey, Cotreau needed offense from another source. That source proved to be Eosue. The senior drained three 3-pointers over the final four minutes of the third quarter to put the offense into high gear.

Meanwhile, the Crusaders ramped up the defense with their full-court press and aggressive half-court man-to-man. Central/West had a hard time dealing with the relentless pressure, turning the ball over seven times in the quarter.

Just moments after Central/West looked ready to make a a game of it, Memorial had built a 49-24 lead entering the fourth quarter.