By Nick Friend

PROVIDENCE — Marcus McCarthy’s 14 points and 13 from Jarron Santos led the East Providence High School boys’ basketball team to a 54-50 win over St. Raphael Thursday night, March 3, in the Sweet 16 round of the Open State Championship Tournament at Rhode Island College's Murray Center.

Despite a slow start, the Townies held a 27-24 lead at halftime. The locals then managed to hang on to the nail-bitting victory over the final 16 minutes, advancing to the Elite 8 where E.P. faces rival and top-seeded LaSalle Sunday night, March 6, at 6 p.m. at Brown University's Pizzitola Center.

“They (Saints) are tough and they make you work for everything that you have to get,” EPHS head coach Alex Butler said. “Second half was a little bit better and we got enough stops.”

E.P. got off to a slow start due to a couple of turnovers, which St. Ray's took advantage of to build an early 13-7 lead.

The Townies continued to struggle to attack the Saints' zone defense while St. Ray's dominated on the glass when it had the ball. E.P. soon found itself down 17-8 as the Townies' frustration grew visibly.

“I thought we were really bad in the first part of the first half against the zone,” Coach Butler explained. “We didn’t do enough to move the ball to take the shots we needed to take.”

But a Santos 3-pointer from the top of the key with just over five minutes left in the half sparked the Townies on an 8-2 run, pulling the locals to within three at 19-16. McCarthy next hit back-to-back buckets, including a 3 to tie the game at 21. McCarthy actually scored seven of East Providence's final nine points of the half, helping the locals close on a 14-5 run that gave the Townies their three-point edge at the break.

“He (McCarthy) is like our unsung hero,” Coach Butler said. “He can take out the other team’s best player and for a large parts of the game you didn't notice (Saints' leading scorer Peter) Wilson out there and that is his work.”

But like the first half, the Townies started the second slowly, allowing Wilson to notch seven of his 17 points in the opening minutes of the period. His 3 from the corner eventually tied game at 35 a few minutes in.

The score remained within a possession or two most of the rest of the way.

St. Ray's took what proved its final lead of the night, 42-40, when the Saints made one free throw on consecutive trips to the line 4:49 remaining.

The Townies, however, changed the momentum soon after when Kyerstan Casey sank a 3 and DeVante Rose drained a floater to give E.P. a 45-42 lead. Zecaree Veiga next grabbed an offensive rebound for the locals, was fouled and hit one of two free throws to up the Townies' edge to 46-42 with less than three minutes to play.

Santos then scored four more points which gave the Townies a commanding 50-45 lead with 1:35 left. The Saints kept it interesting as they knocked down a 3 with 21 seconds to play to pull them within two. But Veiga proceeded to make two clutch free throws in the closing moments, which put the game out of reach for the Saints.

The win earned E.P. a rematch against LaSalle, the defending Open State champs who defeated 16th-seeded East Greenwich, 55-37, in the first game at RIC Thursday. The Townies and Rams played their one-and-only game this season to begin their respective Division I schedules back on December 18. Visiting LaSalle defeated E.P. 70-62.

“It is the No. 1 team in the state, they are defending champs and we get an opportunity to go and knock them off,” Coach Butler said of LaSalle. “We are going to give it the best shot we can.”