By Nick Friend

EAST PROVIDENCE — The second half of a playoff doubleheader in city Sunday, Feb. 21, at Ramos Gym finished just as disappointingly as the first after visiting Central upset East Providence High School, 64-59, in the opening round of the Division I boys' basketball championship tournament.

The visiting and 12th-seeded Knights, who needed to beat both South Kingstown and Barrington on consecutive evenings last week just to qualify for the main draw of the event, got ahead of the fifth-seeded Townies in the closing minutes of the first half then held off a late charge by the hosts to advance to the quarterfinals opposite fourth-seeded Classical.

For East Providence, which saw its record drop to 12-5 in league games, the Townies must now await the results of the rest of the division playoffs to see if they'll qualify for the Open State Tournament. E.P. sat in the seventh spot out of 16 teams that qualify for the open tourney after Sunday's loss.

“I thought Central wanted the game more and they played more desperate,” EPHS head coach Alex Butler said. “I didn't see the fight from us and the thing is, is it is the playoffs and you have to be desperate.”

To start of the game E.P. jumped out to a 9-4 lead seven of which game from senior point guard Jarron Santos who finished with a game-high 22 points.

The locals continued to grow their lead as Santos stayed hot with a deep three pointer from the top of the key as the Townies lead grew to 18-9 with over ten minutes remaining in the first half.

After a missed Townie free throw, the Knights made back-to-back shots to pull within five, 21-16. However, Santos came right back and hit another three pointer from the top of the key.

E.P. would go onto to struggle for the final five minutes of the half offensively as they only managed to drain six points. Meanwhile, the Knights continued to drive to the basket which gave them a 34-31 lead at the half.

“I think they were down at their own performance (at halftime),” Coach Butler said. “I brought up the changes that we needed to make and brought up that our number one goal coming into the game was rebounding and they had 18 offensive rebounds.”

To begin the second half, E.P. pulled within two as Zecaree Veiga made one of his two free throws which cut their deficit to 38-36 with less than thirteen minutes to play in the game.

The Knights preceded to go on a 12-4 run as the Townies struggled to gain any momentum on the offensive end with less than eleven minutes to play. This put the locals in a 50-40 hole.

E.P. then went on a run of their own as they scored nine in a row as Adam Duarte made five free throw attempts putting the score at 53-51 with less than four minutes to play in the game.

Buckets from seniors Veiga and Santos knotted the score at 56 with two and a half minutes remaining.

The game stayed close as the Townies came up with a pivotal offensive rebound leading to Santos scoring again, tying the game at 59 with just a minute left.

On the very next possession, the Knights scored on a mid-range jumper and never looked back as the Townies failed to scored again. This lead to E.P. walking off in disappointment and the Knights celebrating as they advance by a score of 64-59.

“Tonight was more about our lack of fight than anything else,” Coach Butler said.

Earlier Sunday, the EPHS girls were defeated by Johnston in the D-II playoffs to see their season come to an end. But while the Townies were eliminated from the Division I boys' tourney, they are still likely earn a bid into the Open State event that begins next week.

“This team had never played a playoff game so I hope this team learned something from today going into the open tournament,” Coach Butler said. “We are in a free fall slide now. We are sixth or seventh and could fall all the way to 14th or somewhere in there. That is not the way you want to go into the tournament. ”

— Photos by Tim Marshall