Portsmouth boys cruise to 76-48 win on senior night

Team rebounds easily from rough start

By Nick Friend
Posted 2/19/17

PORTSMOUTH — Led by 11 points from James Reilly on senior night, Portsmouth defeated a winless Juanita Sanchez, 76-49, Friday night at Portsmouth High School.

After a slow start to …

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Portsmouth boys cruise to 76-48 win on senior night

Team rebounds easily from rough start

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Led by 11 points from James Reilly on senior night, Portsmouth defeated a winless Juanita Sanchez, 76-49, Friday night at Portsmouth High School.

After a slow start to begin the game, Portsmouth rebounded quickly and ended the first half on a 29-7 run to take a 38-18 lead into the locker room. In the second half, seniors who haven’t seen much action continued to pile on, leading to a comfortable win.

“I think the guys that started the game were nervous,” PHS head coach Joe Occhi said. “It is not a normal situation for them especially with that group together. Once they got going, they were fine.”

To begin the action, Portsmouth got off to a rough start with an all-senior lineup including several turnovers which helped Juanita Sanchez gain an 8-1 lead.

After substituting in some of the normal starters, Portsmouth proceeded to cut into the visitors’ deficit led by back-to-back baskets from Jack Page to bring the Cavaliers’ lead down to 11-9 before a timeout.

The Patriots continued on their hot streak by scoring 20 unanswered points, with nine coming from James Reilly to bring Portsmouth’s lead to 29-11. Michael Occhi added on back-to-back buckets to end the half, including a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Patriots a 38-18 lead heading into halftime.

To start the second half, Sha’liek Randall scored back-to-back buckets to increase the lead to 44-24 with 12 minutes remaining in the game. The Patriots proceeded to go on an 8-3 run, highlighted be a nice pass from Sean Coyne to Matthew Clark underneath the basket to bring the score to 48-27.

The home team continued to pile on with consecutive points from Reilly including a corner 3 to put Portsmouth up 55-27. Senior John Stack, who gets better with each game, then scored four straight points.

“I wanted to give him some time to break that rust off because he has improved as the season has gone along,” Mr. Occhi said. “I want to get him closer to seeing meaningful minutes in the varsity game.”

The two teams continued to run up and down the floor in the fast-paced game as the Patriots drove to the basket and earned back-to-back trips to line to put them up 65-43 with over three minutes remaining. Despite a continued fight from the Cavaliers, the Patriots scored nine points in a row, including back-to-back buckets from senior Brian Wojichowski.

All seniors scored

By the end of the game, all eight seniors who took to the court ended up scoring points, which meant a lot for Mr. Occhi.

“They work hard every day,” he said. “They work just as hard as all the guys who are getting the minutes. All the guys who normally get those minutes were here cheering them on. It was the best situation I could hope for. This team really likes each other.

“This is a really good group. Zach Rahilly (who didn't play due to injury) is a leader and the backbone of our defense. Sean Coyne and Matt Clark do a ton of work for us, too. They all work their tails of in practice. One guy I am especially happy for is Sha’liek, because he comes in here keeps his mouth shut and works really hard every day.”

This year, Mr. Occhi got the pleasure to coach his son, Michael Occhi, who finished with six points, in his senior game. “It is a lot fun,” Mr. Occhi said. “It has its challenges, but it’s also a really big pleasure, too.”

The win improves the Patriots to 9-7 who were able to break out of a recent 2-5 funk with the victory.

“We have had a couple of hiccups lately,” Mr. Occhi said. “Honestly, I am glad that that happened then, and that now we can start peaking as the playoffs get here.”

Portsmouth, which is 9-7 in Division II, next plays Rogers High on the road at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19. The Patriots finish out the regular season at Moses Brown School at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

PHS basketball, Portsmouth High School

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.