Townie hoopsters split league championship playoff games

East Providence girls win, boys fall

By Mike Rego
Posted 2/28/17

EAST PROVIDENCE — “Survive and advance” is the credo of late-February/March basketball no matter the level, but unfortunately for the respective East Providence High School teams …

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Townie hoopsters split league championship playoff games

East Providence girls win, boys fall

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — “Survive and advance” is the credo of late-February/March basketball no matter the level, but unfortunately for the respective East Providence High School teams only one of the Townies made it through the first week of their respective league postseason tournaments.
Tuesday night, Feb. 28, the EPHS girls stayed alive in the Division II championship playoffs with a 45-39 win over visiting Ponaganset in a quarterfinal round outing.
In Providence the same evening, the EPHS boys were eliminated from the Division I playoffs after the Townies suffered a 64-50 loss to host Mt. Pleasant also in the quarterfinals. The fourth-seeded Kilties advance to the league semifinals this weekend while fifth-seeded East Providence sees its run in the tournament end, but not its postseason. The Townies are still on track to earn a berth in the Open State Tournament which begins next week.
Girls’ notes
The Townies, seeded third in the D-II tourney field, started the game strong Tuesday, building a comfortable 24-13 lead by intermission. But the Chieftains, seeded sixth after going 12-6 during the regular season, made things much more competitive in the second half, cutting their deficit to only three (39-36) on a 3-pointer with just under two minutes remaining in the game.
The Townies only secured the win at the free throw line in the closing minute as Courtney Dorr made four foul shots and Amber Drainville a pair. Dorr led the locals with 13 points. Lillian Conti added 10. Julia Andrade and Shaniah Hazard had seven apiece.
“I thought Ponaganset did a great job of mixing up their defenses the entire game, which kept us off balance,” said EPHS head coach Mike Solitro. “We were fortunate to make our free throws down the stretch to ice it.”
The Townies advance to the semifinals and a date with second-seeded Westerly Thursday night, March 2, at CCRI-Warwick. Tip off is 8 p.m. The Bulldogs defeated seventh-seeded Scituate, 66-40, in their quarter Tuesday. Westerly also edged E.P., 52-48, in their only meeting of the regular season played just last week, February 21.
“Westerly is a very good team,” said Solitro. “We’re going to be playing on a big court. We need to take advantage of that, get to the free throw. Hopefully we can take it to basket and finish better and get to the line.”
The Division II championship game is scheduled for Saturday, March 4, at Rhode Island College’s Walsh Gymnasium at 3:15 p.m.
Kilties win
E.P. started well Tuesday, scoring the first nine points of the game, but Mt. Pleasant got just as hot and then some, finishing the first half with a 40-27 lead. The Kilities were bolstered by their advantage at the free throw line, going 15-for-26 from the stripe while E.P. was just 5-for-10.
Charles Martinez, as he did earlier this month in the Townies’ 68-62 win over the Kilties, led Mt. Pleasant in scoring. Martinez, who averages 11 points per game for the season, had 27 Tuesday after scoring 24 against E.P. back on February 3. He made six 3-pointers Tuesday. He had only made eight total in the five games Mt. Pleasant played since their earlier meeting with the Townies.
“What can I say? He like us I guess,” EPHS head coach Joe Andrade said of Martinez’s play against his team.
Six-foot-two sophomore forward Enoch Cheeks added 23 for the Kilties, 11 from the free throw line. Kyerstan Casey led the Townies with 16 points. Deyshawn Tengbeh added 12 and Dion Hazard nine.
“I told the kids this was a learning experience,” Andrade added. “We’ll be fine. We’ll be ready for the Open Tournament next week.”

— Photos by Austin Medeiros

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.