The East Providence High School boys' basketball team continued its impressive run of results over the last week as the Townies upped their recent win streak to five after beating Portsmouth 53-48 in Division I contest Friday night, Jan. 12, at home.

As needed two nights earlier on the road against Smithfield, East Providence again rallied late after lagging behind the visiting Patriots well into the fourth quarter.

East Providence hasn't lost since the restart of league play following the holiday break, improving to 6-2 in the D-I ranks, which was good for fifth place in the standings behind unbeatens Barrington and Classical as well as one-loss sides Hendricken and LaSalle.

Portsmouth built a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and upped its edge to 30-21 by halftime. The visitors came out shooting the ball well, both from deep and mid-range.

The Townies had actually trimmed their deficit to just a pair late in second period, 23-21, but the Patriots scored the final seven points of the frame, including a 3 at the buzzer.

Nine would remain the largest lead of the night for the guests, including 38-29 deep into the third quarter, but East Providence would score 13 of the next 15 points to finally take its first lead on a Levi Jacobs rebound-putback with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

From there, Christian Torres found the range from behind the arc, dropping two clutch 3s in success. The second, with 18 seconds, just about sealed the win for the locals.

Kenaz Ochgwu had eight points in the third quarter as East Providence rallied. He finished with a team-best 15 points and also had 17 rebounds. Jacobs also had a double-double, going for 13 and 11. Torres had 14 points, including three 3s.

The Townies were set to return to action Tuesday, Jan. 16, at Cranston East, but that game was postponed due travel concerns from the snow/ice storm earlier in the day.

East Providence is scheduled to travel to Warwick Thursday, Jan. 18, for an outing against Bishop Hendricken at 6:30 p.m. The contest is a rematch of last winter's Open State Tournament semifinal encounter won by the eventual champion Hawks.

The Townies are back at home to play twice early next week: Monday, Jan. 22, against Cumberland at 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday night, Jan. 24, against Westerly at 7.