The East Providence High School basketball teams finished their respective Division I schedules in recent days, the playoff-bound boys' squad earned a crucial upset road win over rival LaSalle Thursday night, Feb. 15, while the girls fell in their finale at home to Cranston West the previous evening.

The EPHS boys defeated the third-place Rams in Providence 55-44, completing their league slate with a 12-6 record. LaSalle, which beat the Townies at the buzzer in East Providence back in December, ended up with a 15-3 record in D-I games.

The Townies led 15-14 after one and 28-24 at the half, before the Rams rallied early in the third to level the score. But EP answered and rebuilt a 45-36 advantage heading into the fourth quarter, leading by as many as 16 in the second half.

Center Kenaz Ochgwu paced the locals with a game-best 18 points. Christian Torres had 13, Tyler Gomez nine and Levi Jacobs six. The Rams were without the services of guard Timoy Stichell. Key as well for the Townies, they did not allow a LaSalle 3-pointer the entire night.

"One of their best guards (Stichell) didn't play, but their team is big and physical so we matched that. And LaSalle made no 3s, which was big," EPHS head coach Joe Andrade. "We've been playing well on the road so to beat LaSalle on the road was big for us."

Playoff notes
Because of other decisions during the week, the win also improved the Townies' league and state playoff lots.

Cumberland, EP's nearest competitor in the league standings and which held the tiebreaker over the locals due to its win over the Townies in January, lost to Portsmouth to fall to 10-6 at the time then was defeated Hendricken (14-4) on February 17 to lose its seeding edge over EP in next week's D-I playoffs. The Townies earned the five seed and the Clippers the six.

Thirteen teams have qualified for the D-I championship tournament. The top three seeds — 18-0 Classical, 17-1 Barrington and LaSalle — receive byes to the quarterfinals on either February 26 or 27.

East Providence hosts a preliminary round game on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. As the Townies the five, they welcome 12th-seeded Central to the city. EP pounded Central 84-62 last month.

As for the Open State Tourney to follow the league playoffs, the Townies enter the postseason sixth in the power rankings with 12 points, behind and in front of three Division II sides. Lincoln (17-1) has 13.6 points. St. Raphael and Tolman also have 12 each.

Like during the regular season, Division I teams earn one point for a win while D-II gets .8 per victory and D-III .6. North Providence, at 17-1 and with 10.16 points, is the lone D-III currently in the 12-team mix for the state tournament in the 12th-and-last spot available.

Girls' notes
The EPHS girls' basketball team completed its first season under the direction of new head coach Tammy Drape with a 54-38 loss to visiting Cranston West in a Division I outing Wednesday, Feb. 14.

The Townies finished with a 2-16 league record and 3-18 overall. EPHS also honored its two seniors — Denelle Solano Guerrero and Nyima Goncalves — prior to the Valentine's Night contest.

The locals kept things close early before the Falcons gradually pulled away before the end of the opening eight minutes. Solano Guerrero scored the first bucket for EPHS, then Harmonie McDowell completed an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Townies up. But West then caught fire from three, draining four in a row to eventually take a 16-7 lead to close the quarter. EP last tied the game at seven on an Ashley Bernard layup.

The Falcons added three more treys for good measure in the second period en route to building a 31-10 lead at intermission. Zarae Hall scored the first of her 11 points in a row for the locals to end the first half then netted the next nine in a row for the Townies to open the third. EP trailed 41-25 heading into the fourth, when the last of the Falcons' 12 triples on the evening boosted their lead to a night-high 54-31 midway through the final eight minutes.

Hall and McDowell shared team-best scoring honors with 11 apiece. Solano Guerrero had six, including EP's last field goal with a layup late in the fourth. Bernard and Trinity Provencher had five each while Goncalves did not score in her final high school contest.