EPHS boys’ cagers eye victories over league’s elite

Coach Andrade says Townies have to show they can vie with Division I’s best

By Mike Rego
Posted 1/18/19

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys’ basketball team approached the midpoint of its Division I regular season schedule this week on track to potentially earn berths in next …

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EPHS boys’ cagers eye victories over league’s elite

Coach Andrade says Townies have to show they can vie with Division I’s best

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys’ basketball team approached the midpoint of its Division I regular season schedule this week on track to potentially earn berths in next month’s league and Open Tourney playoffs, though still in search of what head coach Joe Andrade feels would be a signature victory, showing his Townies can vie with the best the state can offer.

East Providence closed last week with a 65-52 loss to visiting and reigning Open champs Bishop Hendricken, leveling its record to 4-4. The guests remained unbeaten in the league, 8-0, and overall, 12-0, at the time.

The Hawks, one of those elite teams Andrade mentioned, completed a season sweep of the Townies. Hendricken defeated the Townies in Warwick by a similar score, 74-61, back in mid-December. City resident Bobby Fiorito notched 17 points for the Hawks last Thursday night, Jan. 17. Hendricken’s Andre De Los Santos led all scorers with a night-high 22. Justin Pena paced the Townies with 15. Dion Hazard added 12 and R.J. Pina 10.

The loss to the Hawks snapped a three-game winning streak for the locals. East Providence started the D-I season 1-3, including a 74-66 setback to Cranston East and a 69-52 defeat in South Kingstown, before responding with consecutive victories over Smithfield, Hope and Central, teams Andrade grouped with the Townies among those chasing the others at the top.

“We’ve won a few games. We’re trying to get back on track,” Andrade said last week. “We were 1-3 and got back to 4-3, but we started out playing Hendricken, Cranston East, two of the top teams in the division, and then we had to go to South Kingstown, which is always rough.”

He continued, “We’re playing better. Some of the young guys and some of the juniors are playing better. And Dion has been Dion, so we’ve been all right.”

Hazard, the Townies’ 5-foot-10 senior point guard began the week averaging a team-best 18.6 points per game for a team scoring at a 66.8 clip per night. Senior center Mitchel Nocera is next on the club in scoring at 10.7 per. Pina is averaging 9.7, Josh Kauffman 8.7 and Pena 7.4.

Asked if he were satisfied wth his team’s effort to date, Andrade said, “Right now, I am. We’re pretty good. We’re improving. Defensively, we’re improving. Offensively, we’re scoring. The only game so far where we haven’t scored was South Kingstown. So, I think we’ll be OK. But to be honest, we have to beat either Hendricken, Cranston East or North Kingstown to even be mentioned in the equation. I want to beat them. We have to beat them. We have to beat one of those teams because those are the top three teams.”

The Townies were boosted earlier in the season with the return of 6’4” veteran forward Anuoluwapo “Clinton” Ogunronbi, the senior who at first opted not to play hoops, instead focusing on indoor track where he is the defending long jump champion, rejoined the team around the holidays.

“It matters,” Andrade said of having Ogunronbi back in the fold. “It gives me another body off the bench. He’s experienced. He comes in. He’s aggressive. He plays above the rim. He knows what we’re doing. He’s been through all this. So it’s big.”

Hazard, who should record his 1,000th career point some time this week, remains the lynchpin in the East Providence lineup. It’s not just his scoring, but also his handle on offense and presence on defense that sets the tone for the Townies each night. Similar to a version of a theme shared earlier by the coach of the 2018-19 EPHS team, “As Dion goes, so goes the Townies.”

“What that means is he has to be the best player on the floor,” Andrade explained. “He’s got to score. He’s got to play defense. He controls the basketball. He’s averaging around 20 (ppg), but it’s more about that he controls the pace. That’s the big thing with him. As he goes, we go.”

Ultimately, and as he said previously, if East Providence is to qualify for the either or both of the postseason events, Andrade reiterated it will be incumbent upon all the Townies to show they have the mettle to compete with the elite at some point over the second half of their schedule.

“Like I said, I want to beat one these top three teams. I think we have to,” Andrade added. “Other than that, we have to take care of business against these other teams. We’ve got to beat LaSalle. We’ve got to beat these other teams we play to have a chance.”

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