Rhode Island High School Basketball - Westerly edged by West Warwick
February 20, 2013: Westerly, RI 02891 The Westerly Bulldogs basketball team (Westerly, RI), was nudged 62-59 in Wednesday's non-league battle with the visiting West Warwick Wizards (West Warwick, RI)
The Wizards now possess a 18-7 record. They put it on the line next when they travel to Shea for a non-league battle on Friday, February 22. West Warwick will confront a Raiders team coming off a 63-55 non-league win over North Providence (North Providence, RI). The Raiders record now stands at 16-7.
Second Quarter
Trailing 28-20 with 2:30 to go, the Wizards closed out the first half on a 8-2 run to cut the Bulldogs lead to two points, 30-28.
The Wizards, who were 9/11 from the foul line in the first half, received 9 points from Brad Young.
Fourth Quarter
While taking advantage of one on one mismatches, the Wizards methodically built a 45-39 lead with 9:14 left in the game.
After the Bulldogs pulled within three points, Kody Greenhalgh and Matt Grenier hit back to back three-pointers to put the Wizards up 55-46 with 5:15 to play.
Although the Wizards kept the Bulldogs in check with a variety of junk defenses (Triangle-2, Tandem-Zone, and One-Man Zone) on Westerly's potent guards, the Bulldogs made one last run at West Warwick.
Austin Cilley, who had 13 points in the first 27 minutes of play, scored 13 points in the final five minutes (three "deep" three-pointers) to help the Bulldogs get close.
The Wizards, however, received two clutch free throws from Chris Antonaccio and a lay-up with 5.9 seconds left from Brad Young for a 62-59 lead.
The Wizards (18-7 overall) were led by Young (19 points, 8/8 from the line), Paygai (13 points and 10 rebounds), Antonaccio (10 points), and Trevor Lawton (8 points and 14 rebounds).
