LaSalle outlasts East Providence in boys' basketball playoffs

Posted 3/7/16

By Nick Friend

PROVIDENCE — The game between East Providence High School and LaSalle Academy in the quarterfinal round of the Open State boys' basketball tournament Sunday evening, March 6, at Brown University’s Pizzitola Center was a …

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LaSalle outlasts East Providence in boys' basketball playoffs

Posted

By Nick Friend

PROVIDENCE — The game between East Providence High School and LaSalle Academy in the quarterfinal round of the Open State boys' basketball tournament Sunday evening, March 6, at Brown University’s Pizzitola Center was a worthy continuation of their rivalry and then some.

Despite getting 18 points from Marcus McCarthy and 12 from Adam Duarte the Townies fell 69-60 to the top seeded and reigning tourney champion Rams, who were led by an electric 32 points of Lawrence Sabir Jr.

In the first half it was a fast pace offensive game as E.P. took an unexpected 35-29 lead at the half. In the second half, LaSalle came out on a 12-0 run and never looked back as they advanced to the semifinals next weekend.

“LaSalle is a classic front running team and when they are ahead everything is great and when they are down they have to pull through it,” EPHS head coach Alex Butler said. “We put them in that spot in the first half and they flipped the script in the second half.”

To begin the game LaSalle scored first in transition before E.P.'s Jarron Santos made a nice pass to Zecaree Veiga for a layup to tie the game at two.

The two teams continued to go back and forth during the opening minutes as a 3-pointer from Santos and a mid range jumper from Adam Duarte kept the Townies close.

The rivals proceeded to trade a series of buckets including four more points from Duarte and back-to-back buckets from the Sabir in a fast paced, offensive game. E.P. was up 15-10 just over four minutes into the game.

The Rams then tied the game up at 15 off to back-to-back Sabir buckets. E.P. quickly responded with a corner 3 from Santos and another mid-range jumper from Duarte giving the locals a 20-16 lead.

The two teams proceeded to go through a several minute stretch of defensive play before McCarthy earned back-to-back trips to the line, hitting three of them. E.P.'s David Ogunronbi then followed with another triple to give the Townies a 26-20 lead.

Santos kept E.P’s momentum scoring a contested two that was drained and a long two from Duarte as they continued to pace the locals to a 33-24 lead.

To close out the opening half the Rams went on a 5-2 run as Sabir hit another free throw to give him 14 points in the opening 16 minutes.

“Ball movement was very good (in the first half) and we limited second chance shots,” Coach Butler said.

To begin the second half the Rams came out fast as they got a quick four points off three offensive rebounds, tying the game at 35 points just two minutes into the period.

LaSalle continued its spree, eventually scoring a dozen in a row to take a 43-35 lead.

The Townies answered thanks to McCarthy, who earned four more trips to the free throw line. He knocked down seven of them to shrink the Rams’ lead to 50-46.

Sabir and McCarthy each next made two more buckets. The Townies proceeded to pull within three, 55-52, with less than four minutes to play. Sabir then added another to give the Rams a 60-54 lead with over two and a half minutes to play. McCarthy earned another trip to free throw line as he knocked down one to shrink LaSalle’s lead to 60-55.

With a minute and a half in the game Coach Butler decided to intentionally foul but the Rams knocked down both free throws to grow their lead to 62-55.

The Townies failed to score on their next possession then fouled again. LaSalle made one and grabbed an offensive rebound to keep the ball with just over a minute remaining.

Despite two made free throws by Duarte the Townies couldn't execute on the offensive end and were forced to foul. But the Rams made their free throws to finish off their nine-point win.

“There are no moral victories for me,” Coach Butler said. “What I just said to the kids was ‘it stings tonight, but you have to look at the body of work.”

The defending champs and number one seeded Rams advance to the Final 4 next Saturday where they will play fourth seeded Smithfield at the University of Rhode Island’s Ryan Center.

— Photos by Tim Marshall

boys' basketball, East Providence High School, playoffs, State Tournament

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Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.