The Barrington Middle School boys basketball team avenged its only loss of the regular season with a 56-44 win over Riverside Middle School in the state semifinals on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Barrington, which lost 47-41 to Riverside in the regular season, opened the semifinals showdown with a 9-3 lead. 

Riverside quickly responded with an 11-0 run, but the Eagles battled back and carried a 20-18 lead into halftime. Gabe Tanous, Beck Kegelman and Owen Pfeffer each scored key baskets during the first half, while Jake Ignall continued his strong play in the paint. 

Barrington Middle School ran its zone offense much better in the second half and was able to steadily build the lead into double digits. The Eagles ended up outscoring Riverside 36-26 in the second half.  

Matt Raffa scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the final 16 minutes, while Tanous hit two key three-pointers and Sean Bonneau scored seven of his nine points in the second half to keep the Vikings at bay.    

Tanous finished the game with 11 points, while Ignall and Kegelman each had six, Danny Coogan added four and Pfeffer finished with three. 

RMS entered the postseason as the fourth seed from the Eastern Division. The Vikings defeated McCourt of Cumberland, the fifth seed from the North, in the opening round, 57-51. RMS then upset the top seed from the Northern Division, Gallagher of Smithfield, 52-47, to reach the Elite Eight where the locals defeated a familiar foe Gaudet of Middletown, the top seed from their Eastern Division, 58-53.

RMS team members included Yusef Abdullah, Xavier Hazard, Isaiah Jean-Louis, Aidan Green, Trey Rezendes III, Kenaz Ochogwu, Matt Garant, Mike Repoza, Jay Gonsalves, Jayden Cadwell, Skyller Garcia and Eddie Turay. Scott Breault was the Vikings’ head coach.

Barrington improved to 15-1 with the victory and will play in the Middle School State Championship game on Friday, Feb. 8, at Johnston High School at 5 p.m. Barrington will play against Cranston's Parkview Middle School.