Boys Basketball Blasts Rival Wellesley at Home
January 9, 2026
• Needham rebounded with a big win after suffering its first loss of the year.
On the first Friday night of basketball in the winter sports season, the Needham boys hosted old rival Wellesley at the A Gym and despite some early struggles, rolled to a huge 64-45 win. Four Rockets scored in double figures, with senior captains Ben Marino and Matt Cloonan each scoring 15 points.
The Rockets were hoping to rebound after dropping their first game of the season, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 58-44 at Newton North. Another senior captain, Andrew Chen, had the team high in that game with 12 points, while Marino was held to just two. The loss followed seven straight victories to open the season, three against teams from the heralded Catholic Conference. (One against Catholic Memorial and two against Xaverian.)
Wellesley came in having won two of their last three games after starting the season with four straight losses. Their most recent victory came on Tuesday, Jan. 6 with a 71-66 win at home against Walpole. Needham came into the game ranked #11 in the first MIAA Division 1 Boys Basketball Power Rankings of the season, released Friday morning. Wellesley was #53.
Needham had some shooting woes in the first quarter Friday night against the Raiders, trailing by four points, but Marino would end up with seven points, Cloonan five as the Rockets took a 16-15 at the end of the first quarter. Senior captain Tommy Moretti led Wellesley with 10 points, but it would be his only points of the game.
Junior Davis Turner paced the Raiders in the second quarter, scoring his only eight points of the game, including two big three-pointers. But that would be the only points Wellesley could muster in the quarter, as Needham scored 15 to take a 31-23 lead to halftime. Marino had six more points to give him 13 points in the first half. Cloonan had four more to give him nine at the break, while Chen hit a three, the sole time he connected from long distance in the game.
Marino hit 3-of-6 from downtown in the first half and Needham was 5-of-13, but they never hit another three the rest of game, finishing 5-of-18. They didn’t need it, however, as the Rockets’ inside game took over, with senior captain Foster Wilinski scoring four times. His eight points in the third quarter helped ignite a Rockets run that saw them outscore Wellesley 21-8 in the third and take a 52-31 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Wilinski finished with 10 points, as did senior Caden McNamee, who had four in the third and four more in the fourth, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds. Marino also had four steals to lead a stellar defensive performance by Needham.
An interesting note: Wellesley nearly hit more three point shots (7-of-10 on the game) than free throws (8-of-15 on the game). Needham was led at the free throw line by Cloonan (4-of-5) and Marino (2-of-2), with the rest of the team shooting just 1-of-5, bringing the Rockets’ total at the charity stripe to 7-of-12.
The next game for the Raiders (2-6) is Sunday, Jan. 11, when they host Concord-Carlisle at noon. Needham (8-1) will next be in action on Tuesday, Jan. 13 when they host Milton at 6:45 p.m. The Needham Channel will be recording a broadcast that will air Wednesday night, Jan. 14, on-air and online at needhamchannel.org.
The Rockets will be home again on Friday, Jan. 16, when they will look to get revenge on Newton North, with tip-off scheduled for 6:45 p.m., with that game also to be recorded by The Needham Channel and aired not only over the air, but streaming at needhamchannel.org. TNC will be at every Friday night Needham varsity basketball game, girls and boys, through Feb. 6.
Watch for highlights from Needham’s win over Wellesley Monday afternoon in our first Winter edition of Rockets Roundup in this article, on our YouTube channel and our Needham Channel Instagram page.
