East Providence falls in boys' hoops regular season finale

Townies qualify for D-I playoffs, need more wins to reach Open Tourney

By Matt Galvao
Posted 2/13/18

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys’ basketball team dropped its Division I regular season finale Monday night, Feb. 12, against Cranston East by a 60-47 score. The …

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East Providence falls in boys' hoops regular season finale

Townies qualify for D-I playoffs, need more wins to reach Open Tourney

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys’ basketball team dropped its Division I regular season finale Monday night, Feb. 12, against Cranston East by a 60-47 score. The Thunderbolts’ 31-point second half surge helped to spoil the senior night festivities for the home crowd.

“It’s simple, they made shots. They made shots, we don’t make shots,” explained East Providence head coach Joe Andrade. “They’re efficient...we left I don’t know, 16 points on the board in missed layups.”

After being tied 5-5 early on in the contest, East Providence went on a 7-2 run as senior Myels Nuey knocked down the three pointer to put the Townies up 12-7 with 8:41 to go in the first half. East Providence trailed 20-17 with just under five minutes to go as both teams traded buckets. A late 9-5 run by Cranston East would send them into the locker room with a seven point 29-22 lead.

The second half started out rough for the home team as Cranston East put up ten points quickly building their lead to 39-26 less than five minutes into the final half of the game. The Bolts then took a 19 point lead as they went on a 6-0 run putting a stranglehold on East Providence 45-26.

The Townies made things interesting as they cut the lead down to nine points 47-38 with 4:52 remaining looking for a comeback. Cranston East would put a halt to any comeback opportunity for the home team as they put up 13 in the games’ final minutes securing the 60-47 win.

“It’s again making shots. We’re careless with the basketball, they’re gonna make you pay,” Andrade said. “Like I told them (East Providence) before the game, they have beaten everybody they’re supposed to beat. They have not dropped games like we’ve dropped games. They’re on a roll.”

East Providence finished out the regular season with a .500 record of 9-9 and third in the Division-I Central standings, still good enough to qualify for the league championship tournament. The Townies open the D-I playoffs at home Friday night, Feb. 16, as the higher seed against either Classical or Central.

With high expectations entering the year and inserting some new players into the lineup, it’s been a trying winter to date for the Townie basketball squad.

“It was difficult because I think expectations were high. It was difficult because I’m trying to put work ethic and defense and it’s been difficult,” Andrade explained.

Expectations were to compete for not only the league title, but a spot in the Open State Tournament later in the winter. The latter has yet to occur.

With the celebration of senior night taking place on Monday night, coach Andrade took time to reflect on the 2018 graduating class and just what they have meant to this program and the excitement that surrounds the boys’ basketball program.

“They’ve brought excitement back. I think last year it was exciting, we were winning. They’ll be missed. They all came in and were good kids and worked hard in the classroom,” Andrade said of his 2018 class.

The Townies will look to make a run during the Division I tournament starting this Friday night, which could still mean a berth in the Open Tourney to follow. It’s likely East Providence would have to win at least two more games in the D-I playoffs to have at a chance at an Open bid.

“Just gotta take care of business. We have to make shots because when we don’t make shots we put our heads down and then we don’t play defense the way we should be playing,” Andrade added. “We play defense when we’re active and we score and things happen.”

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