Titans cruise past undermanned ’Canes

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 1/19/16

The Toll Gate boys’ basketball team outscored Warwick Vets 34-20 in the second half to beat the undermanned ’Canes 64-47 in a Division III showdown on Thursday night.

Guard Austin Giard led …

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Titans cruise past undermanned ’Canes

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The Toll Gate boys’ basketball team outscored Warwick Vets 34-20 in the second half to beat the undermanned ’Canes 64-47 in a Division III showdown on Thursday night.

Guard Austin Giard led the way for the Titans (4-4), compiling 19 points and eight steals on the night. Aidan Estrella also chipped in 12 points, three rebounds and three steals off the bench.

The ’Canes (3-5) were without their top scorer, Jake Gonsalves, and also missed forwards Daniel Pratt and Jacob Isaac. Guard Joe Gionti led Vets with 15 points, while junior guard Nate Ferri had nine points, four rebounds and one steal.

Guard James Baldwin had six points, three rebounds and six steals for Vets in a starting role, and freshman Kavi Simpson added three points and two boards in the first half.

“Joe Gionti I thought played very well,” Vets head coach Chris LeBlanc said. “Kavi also stepped up. I’m happy with that. Long season to go, still got eight more games to go. I’m happy.”

Down three of their best players, the ’Canes made the first half a fight. Down 23-14 after Estrella drilled a 3-pointer, Vets closed out the first half on a 13-7 run to trail by just three points going into the break.

Gionti got a shot to go to cut the deficit to 23-16, then Kevin Simpson’s only make of the night made it a five-point game. Gionti nailed another field goal to get Vets within 3, and Ferri would later tie the affair at 23 with a layup.

“We’re always gonna compete, no matter who’s on the floor, because that’s Warwick Vets and all we do is compete,” LeBlanc said. “I knew we were shorthanded today, but I knew I was going to come out and get an effort from whatever five guys were going to be on the floor, whether they were freshmen or sophomores.”

Austin Ouimette got going in the final two minutes of the half, getting a shot to fall to put the Titans back up 27-25 before getting fouled on the next possession. He made one of two attempts at the charity stripe to put Toll Gate ahead 28-25. Baldwin would cut the deficit to 1, but that’s the closest the ’Canes would get for the rest of the game. Kyle McGuire closed the first-half scoring to put Toll Gate up 30-27 at the intermission.

The Titans exploded out of halftime to jump all over Vets. Toll Gate started the second half on a 22-4 run and never looked back. During that span, Giard found his stroke, netting 11 points for the Titans while they built an insurmountable lead.

“He’s just effective, he’s just a quick, athletic kid,” Toll Gate head coach Tom Rayko said of Giard. “He’s always effective. I thought the rest of our team stepped up to help him with that, because he does gamble a lot, but he’s so fast that he can recover. So getting some back-taps, jumping back in, catching some people by surprise, so he’s able to get a lot of breakaway layups, which is great for him.”

Vets, without some of its most prolific players, had trouble keeping up with Toll Gate during its surge. The ’Canes did not make a field goal until almost seven minutes into the half, but by that point the Titans had ballooned their lead to 14.

Despite going 10-of-15 from the line, the ’Canes made just four shots to Toll Gate’s 15 in the second half.

While Vets struggled, Toll Gate flourished. After Giard led the charge to get Toll Gate ahead 52-34 halfway through the period, the Titans got contributions from across the board to keep their comfortable lead until the final buzzer.

“Really nothing but intensity,” Rayko said of Toll Gate’s halftime adjustments. “I think we pushed up to nine in the first half, and then let them right back in the game. I kind of thought we could have just kept playing with a lot more intensity. It’s really the biggest thing. That, and being patient on offense.”

Estrella chipped in two more buckets to put Toll Gate up 24, and shots from Adam Donnelly and Tristan Wyns off the bench kept the ’Canes at bay.

Gionti had three of Vets’ four field goals in the second half, at one point scoring eight straight for the ’Canes to make it 64-44 not long before the final horn sounded.

Vets never closed the gap to fewer than eight in the second half. Baldwin was held without a point in the second and Denius Simpson, who had four points in the first, was also held scoreless. He left the game in the second half with an injury of his own.

The ’Canes’ next game is at Ponaganset (3-3) on Wednesday, which will have given them five days to rest and get healthy. LeBlanc expects everyone to be ready for a pivotal matchup with the Chieftains, whom the ’Canes beat earlier in the season, 71-62, in the Pink Madness Basketball Classic.

“We need to rest,” LeBlanc said. “We’re off a little bit, so that’s good. We need to rest for sure. We should be at full strength come Tuesday.”

Toll Gate had a meeting with Division I West Warwick (3-3) scheduled for Monday, but results were unavailable at press time.

“It’s exam week,” Rayko said with a laugh. “So realistically that’s never fun. Luckily it’s a non-league game, and I like some learning and I like to grow. It’s always good to play against better competition, just to push ourselves, too. Just to make sure we’re trying to work to a higher level.”

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