By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
With two starters out of the lineup for disciplinary reasons, the No. 9 Rogers High boys' basketball team found itself in unfamiliar territory last Friday night - undermanned, unable to press and down to a team with a .500 record.
Somehow, though, the Vikings reached overtime. Once they did, Rogers coach Jim Psaras decided he'd waited long enough.
Psaras turned his defense loose in OT, a move that produced three Tiverton turnovers and a 10-0 run by the Vikings. That eventually allowed them to win their 10th game in a row, 72-64, in a key Division II-South survival exercise for Rogers in Tiverton.
"It was unexpected," Rogers swingman Mason Choice told the Newport Daily News, referring to his team's decision to go for broke in the extra session with the press.
"(Tiverton) had no idea, so we kept getting steals. It was a good call by Coach."
With Rogers (16-3, 10-1) shorthanded, Psaras had opted at the outset to abandon his customary high-pressure, man-to-man defense and have the Vikings sit back in a zone, where energy could be preserved and foul trouble averted.
Tiverton (9-10, 5-6) led by as many as 11 points in the second half, then regained the lead at 46-42 with minutes to play in regulation after Rogers had rallied behind the strength of its defense with a 16-0 run. The contest remained tight until overtime arrived.
"I had to rest my guys in the first half," Psaras said. "I couldn't put the full energy into what we wanted to do. We knew the second half we were going to play man."
Choice, who scored seven of Rogers' 16 points during its 16-0 second-half run, finished with a game-high 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds. He added six points in the overtime and went 14-of-14 from the foul line for the game.
"We were right with them all the time," said Tiverton forward Jimmy Miranda, whose team had dropped a 66-51 verdict to Rogers earlier in the season. "Their full-court pressure got to us in the end."
"(Tiverton's) a good team," Choice said. "They played hard, but we came out at the end in overtime."
"There's no consolation in a loss," Tiverton coach Jerry Arcouette said. "It's hard. In overtime, we turned it over a little too much. I felt we had a chance to win."
Hendricken Pulls Out Two Nail-Biters
Third-ranked Bishop Hendricken, which had lost a controversial one-point decision to Archbishop (MA) Williams earlier in the season, caught a couple of breaks of its own last week in knocking off No. 4 Smithfield and No. 8 St. Raphael.
Against Smithfield, the Hawks rallied from seven points down in the final three minutes of regulation to score a 70-64 win.
Against visiting St. Raphael, Hendricken needed the good fortune of an offensive rebound and Nick Manning's 3-pointer with five seconds remaining to force overtime before going onto a 69-64 OT victory.
Hendricken's luck finally ran out against No. 10 Hope in an 83-72 loss, its first against Rhode Island competition in 2006-07. The Hawks are 15-2 overall.
"This is the second game in a row where we've had to kind of put it together in the last couple of minutes," Hendricken coach Jamal Gomes told the Warwick Beacon, referencing the St. Raphael win.
"It speaks volumes of our players' intensity. They never give up and they always believe they have a chance to win. Now, as exciting as these games are, I would prefer it not being like that. We don't want to go to the well too often. We don't want too many games to come down like that."
Brandon Akinsulire, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, came down with a rebound off the top of the backboard that set up the freshman Manning for his OT-forcing 3-pointer against St. Raphael.
"The guys were aware enough that when we rebounded it, we still had time on the clock," Gomes said. "We found the open man and we knew it had to be a 3. Manning just drilled it."
Manning said he'd hit a big shot before in an AAU game. What was he thinking when he got the ball?
"Nothing," Manning said. "I was just shooting it. It felt good to have that opportunity."
Chariho, Exeter-West Greenwich Prove They Belong
Midway through their first season in Division I, former Division II rivals Chariho and Exeter-West Greenwich sat atop the DI-South standings, with Chariho in the lead at 7-3 and E-WG one game back at 6-4.
Meanwhile, former DI-South kingpins South Kingstown and North Kingstown were struggling to reach the .500 mark at 4-5 and 3-7.
"I wouldn't say that I'm surprised by (the standings)," Exeter coach Chris Cobain told the North Kingstown Standard Times.
"We knew coming in that Division I would be tough, but I didn't expect to see Chariho or Exeter-West Greenwich get steamrolled. Coach (Chris) Ritacco (of Chariho) and I started coaching at the same time and we have pride in the product we put on the floor: setting good screens, playing good man-to-man defense. We believe in our systems and it works. I'm proud of our smaller schools."
After losing two of its first three games, Exeter has gone 5-2, with high-quality wins over traditional D-I powers Central, Mt. Pleasant, and La Salle Academy.
While Exeter fans still wish they had 6-foot-9 center Ben Crenca (transferred) in the lineup, they can find solace in the achievements of the Scarlet Knights.
"When you start in a new league with schools that are two and three times the size of yours in terms of male enrollment and only have two experienced returning varsity players, to be at 6-4 with some big wins certainly makes us feel good about who we are," said Cobain.
"And it makes us wonder if we really are overachieving or if we belong here. I think it's a blend of both. We believe in what we do. We have good fundamental players who we get the most out of. We've always done that."
West Warwick Holds On to Stop Rival
West Warwick, a team that seems destined to advance deep into the Division II playoffs in March, nearly blew a 19-point halftime lead before holding on to defeat rival Warwick Veterans, 62-58.
Dameon Yeremian of Warwick Vets rimmed a 3-pointer that might have sent the game into overtime, verifying just how close West Warwick came to a total collapse. With the victory, the Wizards clinched a post-season tournament berth.
"In the second half it was more of us putting it neutral because we thought we had already won the game," West Warwick coach Richard Grenier told the Kent County Daily Times.
"I discussed with the kids at halftime that we were up 19 and we hadn't clinched a playoff spot yet and I told them we needed to keep going inside. (But) we only had two shots in the paint in the first six minutes of the half."
West Warwick, 7-3, was able to survive the Hurricanes' second-half push through the work of Bruce Sobers, who recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds.
"The first two teams in the playoffs are going to get a bye to (host venue) CCRI, we're not going to be one of them," said Grenier. "We want to be hosting a home playoff game in the first round and so it was important to get this win on the road."
In the second half, Warwick outscored West Warwick by 36-20, thanks to 11 points from Mike Eldridge and eight from Tony Darakji.
"I think our seniors realized that we only have three weeks left in the season and we still have a shot at the playoffs," said Vets coach Mike Batalon. "That was just pride in the second half, wanting to get a win on your home court."
Mount St. Charles Stays Hot
Division III Mount St. Charles won its eighth in a row last Friday, knocking off speedy Central Falls, 67-55.
Mount received double-digit scoring from Dan Koback (15 points), Dan Keyes (17 points) and Brendan Worton (18 points) to earn the home victory; it had started the league season at 1-3.
The momentum will be critical for the second-place Mounties (9-3), who play host to Division III league-leader Juanita Sanchez on Tuesday.
"It's definitely good going into Juanita Sanchez with eight straight wins," Koback told the Woonsocket Call. "We have just been playing a lot better as a team.
"We're making our shots," Koback added, "the defense has definitely gotten a lot better and the confidence level has definitely gotten a lot better."
Koback, the Mounties' 7-foot-0 senior, was once again a force underneath, finishing with five blocked shots and altering countless other attempts from the field by Central Falls.
"This team has just been committed to defense," said Mount coach Scott Colantonio. "Giving help defensively, Koback is a big difference. If someone's man gets by him, it's nice to have the big guy in there."
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com Master Photographer for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island area and a Northeast Region columnist. He may be reached at 203-563-2297 or at j.stout@jmstout.org.
