Strong second half sends Cougars past Titans

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 2/7/17

The Toll Gate Titans squandered a lead late to lose to the North Providence Cougars, 67-57, on Friday night in Warwick.

“I would say the first three quarters of the game we played great,” Toll Gate head coach Tom Rayko said.

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Strong second half sends Cougars past Titans

Posted

The Toll Gate Titans squandered a lead late to lose to the North Providence Cougars, 67-57, on Friday night in Warwick.

“I would say the first three quarters of the game we played great,” Toll Gate head coach Tom Rayko said. “Then, the last quarter was a little bit of a struggle. We kind of panicked, we’re a little young, so I think that has something to do with it. Coming down the stretch it was a little antsy. We didn’t quite have our offense moving.”

Sophomore Brandon Scott led the Titans with 20 points and senior Aidan Estrella followed with 18. For North Providence, junior Paul Rizzo had 24 points and senior Earnest Umoh had 19.

Estrella buried a 3-pointer to put the Titans up 3-0 right out of the gate. Next, junior guard Orane Smith fed Estrella for a bucket, giving Toll Gate a 5-0 lead.

A corner 3 from Rizzo cut the deficit to two. Then, junior Matt Rohelia hit a layup to tie it at 5.

Then, Toll Gate used a 13-2 spurt to go up 11. First, Estrella passed to Brandon Fogarty for a layup. Then, Scott stole the ball, went on a fast break and scored a layup. Next, Estrella fed Fogarty for a jumper to put Toll Gate up, 11-7, with 13:04 remaining in the first half. Toll Gate displayed good ball movement during its next possession before getting it inside to Max Laiter for an easy bucket. Next, Scott buried an open 3-pointer, before Estrella ended the run with a basket, extending the lead to 18-7.

North Providence stopped the bleeding when Mike Osei intercepted a pass and scored a layup, making it 18-9.

A jumper from Estrella increased Toll Gate’s lead to 20-9. Next, a spin move and a bucket from Estrella put it up 13. Later in the half, Scott hit a floater to give the Titans their largest lead at 29-15.

North Providence went on a 6-0 run when Umoh scored back-to-back buckets, before Osei stole it and scored a breakaway layup to pull North Providence within eight, 29-21, with under four minutes to play in the first half.

Toll Gate responded with back-to-back 3-pointers from Fogarty and Antal Lee to increase the lead to 35-24. Then, North Providence’s Christian Anzeveno went down the baseline and put one off the glass while getting fouled. He made the free throw to pull North Providence within eight again, 35-27, with 1:50 left. Toll Gate went to the break with a 36-29 edge.

North Providence picked up its play in the second half. Senior Brandon Pringle assisted to Rizzo for an early 3-pointer to cut the lead to four.

The teams battled back-and-forth before Toll Gate took a 43-36 lead with 14:18 left on a pair of free throws from Scott.

North Providence drew closer when Umoh hit a jumper to make it 45-41. Next, Osei was fouled driving to the basket and made one shot from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to 45-42 with 11:45 to play.

A 3-pointer from Scott and a turnaround jumper from Estrella put Toll Gate up eight. But, with 10:16 to play, Rizzo buried a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 50-45.

Next, North Providence took over the momentum. Rohelia missed a jumper, but there to clean it up was Umoh with a one-handed putback to pull North Providence within four. On North Providence’s next possession, Rohelia nailed a 3 ball to cut it to one. Then, North Providence took the lead when Osei came up with a steal and passed to Rohelia for the finish, putting North Providence up, 52-51, with 6:17 to play. Rizzo grabbed some insurance for North Providence when he banged a 3-pointer to put North Providence up, 55-51, with 5:04 left.

Scott intercepted a North Providence pass and dished ahead to Estrella for a bucket to pull the Titans within two with 3:52 to play. But, out of a North Providence timeout, Osei hit a jumper to put it up, 57-53.

The teams exchanged scores. Scott banked a jumper off the glass to get Toll Gate back within two. Down the other end, Umoh went one-on-one with Laiter before hitting a turnaround shot off the glass to put North Providence up, 59-55. Next, Scott came down and made a bank shot of his own. Then, Rizzo made a layup for North Providence, giving it a 61-57 advantage with 2:12 left.

The Toll Gate offense stalled out and was forced to foul. Osei made two free throws while extending the North Providence lead to 63-57 with 57 seconds left. North Providence would end up securing the victory, 67-57.
The Titans (2-10) will be back in action at Barrington (4-9) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

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