EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys’ basketball team had its fourth crack at beating one of the state’s better teams this season when reigning league and Open Tourney champion North Kingstown visited the city Thursday night, Jan. 30, but like the three other times the Townies came up short.

The Skippers used a very good first-half performance to build a double digit lead then fended off a late EPHS rally to earn a 69-65 win. N.K.'s three-guard combo of Nick Sacchetti, Clay Brochu and John Quianoo spurred the win, scoring 26, 24 and 14 points respectively.

North Kingstown improved to 10-1 in Division I-C standings. The Townies dropped to 6-4 in the I-A ranks. All of the East Providence losses to date have come against the perceived powers this winter: two to 9-1 Hendricken, another to 8-3 LaSalle and the other to the Skippers.

Josh Kauffman led the locals with 17 points. Brian Taylor added 15 and Matt DosSantos 10. R.J. Pina was held to eight, 12 below his season average. Justin Pena had nine.

“N.K. is good. It’s exactly what I told them,” EPHS head coach Joe Andrade said. “They run hard through screens. They look to shoot. And you can’t make mistakes because they take advantage of them.”

N.K. first stretched its lead to 10 points, 22-12, midway through the opening period on a Sacchetti 3-pointer. The Townies, dealing with the early foul trouble of starter Taylor and without injured Zach Russell, sliced into their deficit a bit before the break, but the locals committed too many turnovers and their defense was somewhat soft, allowing the visitors rather easy access to the hoop. The Skippers would eventually take a 38-25 lead at intermission.

“It was a bad first half,” Andrade said. “Taylor got in foul trouble on two suspect calls and we committed careless turnovers.”

The Skippers scored the first five points of the second half to increase their edge to a high of 18 (43-25) on a Brochu 3 before the Townies began their response. E.P. went on a 15-2 run to get back into the game, culminating on a Pina rebound put-back layup.

The score remained within two possessions for just about the rest of the night before the locals, who played with more intensity on defense and aggression on offense in the second half, twice came within a shot of tying the game. Each time, though, the Skippers responded.

With about four minutes to go, Tyler Lima drained a 3 from the corner for the Townies to trim the lead to 58-55. Taylor, who was a factor late, brought E.P. to within just a pair (63-61) on a layup with just under two minutes left.

Brochu answered Taylor’s bucket with a drive and free throw to complete the “and-1.” Kauffman then hit another corner 3 for the Townies to make it 66-64 with 40 seconds left. Brochu again was in the spotlight, making and missing the ends of a one-and-one after being fouled.

Next was a hectic sequence when each team turned the ball over. The Townies had it and a chance to tie with under 10 seconds, but the play never materialized. N.K.’s Quainoo ended up with the ball, was fouled and made both free throws to seal the victory for the Skippers.

“We played better in the second half,” Andrade added. “Overall, minus Russell and with Taylor in foul trouble, it was encouraging we were right there at the end. All of our losses are to the top three teams. We still have many winnable games coming up.”

East Providence returns to action at 4-6 Coventry Friday night, Feb. 7, for a 7 o'clock game against the host Knotty Oakers.