East Providence High School's 48-42 Division I boys' basketball victory over host Smithfield Wednesday night, Jan. 10, was the epitome of a "character win," the Townies trailing the Sentinels most of the way before pulling ahead and away late in the final frame.

The victory was East Providence's fourth in a row since the restart of league play following the holiday break. The Townies improved to 5-2 in the league, which was good for fifth place in the D-I standings behind unbeatens Barrington and Classical as well as one-loss sides Hendricken and LaSalle.

"With a young, inexperienced team to be able to face that adversity on the road and win is huge. We can build on that," EPHS head coach Joe Andrade said of Wednesday's victory. "We continue to struggle offensively, but defense has kept us in games."

Things didn't look great for the locals for most of the night, including early when Smithfield broke out to a 14-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Sentinels' edge would grow to 10 (20-10) early in the second period before East Providence settled into the contest at about the mid-way mark of the quarter. Braedon Ellis' 3-pointer off an inbounds play sparked an 11-2 Townie run prior to intermission, leaving the locals trailing just 22-21 at the half.

Out of the break, though, Smithfield continued to keep East Providence at bay. The Sentinels increased their lead to six (38-32) heading into the final eight minutes.

In the fourth, however, the Townies put the clamps on defensively and mustered up enough offense to finally grab hold of the game.

The Sentinels scored the first hoop of the stanza to go up seven (40-33), but it would prove to be their last field goal of the night.

In fact, the fourth quarter mirrored closely the first in the opposite way fortunately for the locals with EP outscoring its host 16-4.

Kenaz Ochgwu started the Townies on a game-closing 15-2 spree with one-handed jumper off the block. Ellis added a breakaway layup then two free throws. And when Brandyn Van Wagner scooped in a rebound-putback of an Ellis missed jumper, EP had taken its first lead of the night, 41-40, with just under four minutes left.

The Townies made two more field goals, both short jumpers in the key by Van Wagner and Ochgwu. Tyler Gomez capped off the win with a couple of free throws before the final buzzer.

Gomez actually led the locals with a game-best 11 points. The junior guard contributed throughout the night with buckets in the first three quarters, including a triple in the third, and with four foul shots in the fourth.

Christian Torres chipped in nine. Ochgwu added eight, Ellis six, Alex Mulamba four and Van Wagner four, the latter all in the fourth.

"Going to Smithfield is always tough. They had a huge crowd yelling things that were borderline crossing the line and disrespectful at our players, so to walk out with a win is huge," Andrade added. "To be down all game and down 38-32 at the end of the third and to hold them to just four points in the fourth to win was big."

The Townies return to action Friday night, Jan. 12, at home against Portsmouth. EP is back on the road for each of its games next week: Tuesday, Jan. 16, at Cranston East and Thursday, Jan. 18, in Warwick against Bishop Hendricken. All three contests tip at 6:30 p.m.