It's the motto of March hoops, "Survive and Advance." And that's exactly what the East Providence High School boys' basketball team did in the preliminary round of the 2024 Open State Championship Tournament as the Townies fended off Johnston by a 58-54 count in city last Friday night, March 8.

The eighth-seeded Townies trailed the visiting and ninth-seeded Panthers from Division II until the final few minutes when the locals closed the contest on a 13-0 spree. Included in the spurt, Levi Jacobs ended a frenetic sequence with a rebound-putback layup to give East Providence its first lead, 55-54, with a minute remaining.

Franklin Corela Lopez later picked the pocket of a Panther and was fouled. He missed both, but the Townies' Kenaz Ochgwu rose high for the rebound and another putback to up EP's edge to 57-54 with about 10 seconds to go.

When Johnston's desperation 3-pointer missed, Jacobs corralled the rebound then sealed the victory by sinking one of two free throws.

The low-post combo of Jacobs and Ochgwu proved too much for the smaller Panthers to handle. Jacobs had a team-best 26 points while Ochgwu had 10, eight in the second half as the Townies rallied from a 29-23 deficit at the break. Derrell Liggins hit three important 3s for EP, finishing with nine. Christian Torres had seven, Lopez four and Tyler Gomez two.

"We didn't take them lightly. They played Lincoln tough and I know they play hard," EPHS head coach Joe Andrade said of Johnston, which lost to undefeated D-II champ Lincoln in the league semifinals the week prior. "And there was a chance they could go crazy from the outside, which they kind of did. And all of their kids played last year in states, and that stuff matters. And only two of our guys did, Kenaz and Derrell, but they didn't play much."

Andrade continued on the Townies' effort, "But our guys responded. Derrell hit some big shots and then Levi and Kenaz took over."

Johnston scored the first five points of the game and ended the opening period up 15-9 only because Liggins hit a 3 from just over half-court at the buzzer. The EP senior drained another triple to tie the game for the first time, 17-all, but the Panthers eventually went into the break up six. The Townies struggled to make shots of any kind, including a number of misses at the rim.

The visitors really got cooking from behind the arc in the third quarter. Johnston drained six of its nine triples in the game out of intermission. The Panthers last 3 of the period gave them a 49-43 advantage as time expired, though it proved their last made hoop from long distance for the night.

East Providence used a 15-5 run, including the last 13 in a row, over the final eight minutes to rally for the victory. The fourth opened with one of Jacobs' rebound-putbacks. Johnston, however, hit two shots and a free throw to rebuild a working 54-45 lead about two minutes into the quarter, but that would also prove to be its last field goal of the night.

From there, the Panthers finally went cold from the floor as the Townies' defense also stiffened. And EP's bulk and height advantage came to the fore. Jacobs started the game-ending run with a neat up-and-under layup. Torres followed with a break-away bucket then Liggins canned his third important trey.

Jacobs next was fouled and hit one and after both Ochgwu and he missed from short range, his third try dropped to put the locals up for the first time. Ochgwu, in turn, skied for the rebound on Lopez's aforementioned free throw miss to give the Townies the three-point edge before Jacobs' one foul shot iced the victory.

"The first half we were too out of control and obviously missing layups didn't help. And (Johnston) was making everything," said Andrade. "But that's been our season at home. We struggle, but then we make a run and do just enough to win."

The victory set up a second meeting this winter with undefeated Division I championship Classical, which won the league championship last week with a 60-57 decision over third-seeded LaSalle. The Purple take a 21-0 record in their state tournament quarterfinal round game against the Townies Monday night, March 8, at 6 p.m. at Rhode Island College.

EPHS hung with Classical for a half at home before the visitors from Providence raced away with a 77-60 win.

— East Providence Post and eastbayri.com contributing photographer Julie Furtado shot the accompanying gallery of photos.