EAST PROVIDENCE — Nick Scandura put on a one-man clinic while the rest of his Barrington High School mates were also on point as the visiting Eagles pulled away from East Providence in the second half to secure a commanding 65-38 victory in an early season Division I boys' hoops outing played Wednesday night, Dec. 20.

Barrington heads into the holiday break from league play with a perfect 4-0 record. The host Townies dropped to 1-2 in the division. EP's scheduled D-I season opener against Narragansett December 12 was postponed due to the Washington Bridge closure fiasco.

Scandura, the Eagles' 6-foot-6 big, showed off his complete game: shooting inside and out, rebounding, ball handling, passing and some sound defense. The senior netted a night-best 27 points, 13 in the first half and 14 in the second.

He actually scored 10 consecutive points for Barrington from the end of the second quarter to about three minutes into the third. Scandura's last hoop of the opening 16 minutes was a layup as was his next hoop to begin the second half. He then made a pair of 3s, one from the corner and the other from the top of the key, before concluding his personal spree with a neat turn-around five footer on the block.

"He's an All-State player," EPHS head coach Joe Andrade said of Scandura. "We had no match for him, no match."

Scandura's exploits initially gave the Eagles a 30-28 lead at intermission. When he was done, for the time being, Barrington's margin was extended to 40-29.

The third quarter, by its end Scandura finishing with 10 points in the stanza, proved East Providence's demise. Derrell Liggins' free throw interrupted the Barrington big man's exploits for a moment early in the period. Much later, Christian Torres' steal and layup with four seconds left in the period accounted for the Townies' only other points and lone field goal of the period.

The Eagles headed into the fourth period with a commanding 48-31 lead after outscoring their hosts 18-3 in the third and East Providence couldn't make any kind of serious push in the fourth.

East Providence actually held a slim 15-14 lead at the end of the first quarter and kept things tight to the break. Franklin Carela Lopez started the night's scoring with a 3 for the Townies, but the other half of Barrington's one-two punch, senior guard Matt Raffa (10 points), drained consecutive triples to get his side going.

The last of Raffa's eight first quarter points put the Eagles up 14-9 before Levi Jacobs sandwiched a field goal and a free throw around a Liggins' 3 to give EP the edge at period's end.

Alex Mulamba came off the bench to score a couple of baskets for the hosts in the second quarter. Jacobs also hit a 3 just after the mid-point of the period and Christian Torres added a hoop to give EP a 28-25 edge. But Owen Pfeffer (11 points) dropped a triple before Scandura hit what would be the last basket of the half to give the visitors their two-point lead at intermission.

Jacobs led the Townies with a team-best eight points on the night. Torres added seven, Liggins six and Carela Lopez five.

"We are where we should be. You play LaSalle (a 43-41 EP loss at the buzzer), you play Barrington, they both return a lot of quality players. Barrington returns two key guys in Scandura and Raffa. They're All-State players. And LaSalle, I don't like how we faced adversity against LaSalle or tonight," said Andrade. "It goes back to what I've said before. So far it's been more about 'me' than about 'we,' and we have to understand that."

East Providence next hosts its annual Harry Mutter Memorial Classic December 27 and 28. The Townies open up against Shea on Wednesday night. The winner advances to face the winner of the Central-North Providence in the final Thursday. The losers meet in the consolation game earlier that same night.