Pats fall in prelims

By RYAN D. MURRAY
Posted 3/3/20

By RYAN D. MURRAY The No. 8 seeded Patriots were driven from the Boys Division II basketball playoffs on Friday night after falling 76-66 to the No. 9 Narragansett Mariners during the preliminary round at Pilgrim High School. Gansett was hot out of the

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Pats fall in prelims

Posted

The No. 8 seeded Patriots were driven from the Boys Division II basketball playoffs on Friday night after falling 76-66 to the No. 9 Narragansett Mariners during the preliminary round at Pilgrim High School.

Gansett was hot out of the gate and the Pats could never recover.

“They jumped on us early,” Pilgrim head coach Matt Fontaine said. “We knew what to expect. They did everything we thought they were going to do. We knew (Atticus) Duncan in the middle would be a problem and they just got out early and we could never get it back. And that’s high school basketball and hopefully we can learn from this and come back next year stronger.”

Pilgrim was led by four juniors with forward Tyriek Weeks topping all scorers with 20 points, while Kenny Rix, a guard, had 17, forward Jared Reminder 12, and point guard Peter Kay 10.

The Mariners were topped by Ethan Betts, a junior, and Matt Calabro, a sophomore, who each scored 18 points, plus BJ Richards, who chipped in 15, while Colby Corson added 14.

Pilgrim junior Joe Izzi recorded the first bucket of the game, but then Gansett answered with seven straight points, starting with a lay-in from Richards, and then a 3-ball from Corson, and lastly a bank shot from Betts, which gave the Mariners a 7-2 edge.

Over the next four minutes, Gansett more than doubled its advantage at 19-7 after two layups from Corson, and one each from Calabro and Duncan, plus a baseline jumper from Betts.

Pilgrim did pull within three at 23-20, with 5:20 remaining in the first half, after a 13-4 run where Reminder buried a trey, Weeks two turnaround jumpers, and Rix, a 3-ball and an old-fashioned 3-point play.

But with 2:07 left, Gansett’s Calabro made a layup, while he was fouled, and then the free throw to complete the 3-point play, and that gave the Mariners a 33-22 buffer.

Rix answered for Pilgrim with a 3-pointer from the right-wing and got the Pats within eight and that’s where they stood at halftime, down 35-27.

Pilgrim’s Kay sank a free throw to start the second half scoring, but then Gansett’s Duncan made a free throw of his own before a baseline hook and drew the Mariners a 38-28 advantage.

With 11 minutes left, the Mariners expanded its buffer to 16 after Richards registered a 3-point play, Betts a layup, and Calabro a bank shot.

Pilgrim sophomore Stephen Soulliere sank a corner trey five minutes later and inched the Pats within 59-53, but that’s as close as they would get.

Both Gansett and Pilgrim move their league records to 11-8 following the contest.

“We have learned a lot this year,” Fontaine said. “I think it took a little while for us to get going, and then now we have a playoff game under our belt and hopefully we can back next year and build off of that and actually start to accomplish where we want to get to and that’s win a championship.”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here