East Providence fell to North Providence 38-36 in a Division 1 heartbreaker at home on Thursday night. The Townies are currently 2-2 in D-1 and 3-3 overall. After beating D-2 Tiverton in a non-league game, East Providence started their division 1 season 2-0, beating Westerly 67-54 and Mt. Pleasant 55-53 before losing to Barrington 53-44 and the Cougars.

“We are struggling offensively,” said Townies head coach Joe Andrade. “We are struggling to understand what a good shot is.”

The Townies offense got off to a slow start as North Providence ran out to leads of 9-2 in the first quarter and 17-10 at the half. Tyler Gomez, Franklin Carela Lopez and Jacob Stover led the townies in scoring. Gomez made a jumper in the first quarter to cut the lead to 9-2 just before the first-quarter buzzer. He hit a 3-pointer for 5 of his team high 11 points as East Providence got back in the game. Stover also buried a three and put in a layup for 5 of his 7 points.

Townies claw back into the game

Carela Lopez scored all of his 10 points in the second half. The senior guard forced his way through the Cougars gauntlet and got to the foul line seven times in the third quarter as East Providence cut the lead 28-24.

Lopez shot 6 of 14 from the line. Jervon Brown scored 4 points, Stover and Alex Mulamba each put in layups as the Townies clawed their way back into the game.

Townies take late lead, before succumbing

East Providence scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and tied the game on a Franklin jumper with a minute left. Gomez got to the foul line and made one of two to give East Providence their first lead 36-35. The Townies fouled Jeremiah Lenus down the stretch as the two teams kept changing possessions with the game in the balance. Lenus, who led the Cougars with 16 points, made just 3 of 8. It was enough, however, to win North providence the game. Gomez, who drained a 3-pointer and a jumper earlier in the fourth quarter and played aggressively, had several opportunities to ice the game for the Townies. The tall sinewy guard made a steal and broke to the hoop on a fast break during one possession in the final seconds. However, the senior missed the layup. Another possession, his jumper bounced off the rim.

“Defensively, we are doing fine, right now,” said Coach Andrade. “Offensively, with no true point guard and no true big, we are struggling to find our groove.”

East Providence scoring:

Tyler Gomez scored 11 points, Franklin Carela Lopez netted 10 points, Jacob Stover scored 7 points, Jervon Brown scored 6 points, Alex Mulamba scored 2 points.