Early deficit too much to overcome for Titans

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 2/11/16

The Toll Gate Titans fell to the Chariho Chargers 51-42 on Tuesday night. Kyle McGuire led the Titans with 14 points while Austin Giard had nine.

For Chariho, forward Domenic Ciringione had 20 …

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Early deficit too much to overcome for Titans

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The Toll Gate Titans fell to the Chariho Chargers 51-42 on Tuesday night. Kyle McGuire led the Titans with 14 points while Austin Giard had nine.

For Chariho, forward Domenic Ciringione had 20 points and captain Jacob Beauregard had 10.

Toll Gate head coach Tom Rayko would have liked to see his team be more aggressive on the offensive end.

“We have the capabilities to play,” Rayko said. “We have good athletes on the team. Sometimes we tend to get into offensive lackadaisical states. I think we always play hard defense, but offensively we tend to get lackadaisical and we’re not taking the best shot that we can, which leads to transition for the other team or a shot that isn’t a good shot and other players are kind of upset because they were open.”

Austin Ouimette had an off night from 3-point land.

“He’s a good 3-point shooter,” Rayko said. “When that shot’s not going down, we gotta look for something else and that’s the mental state that we need to understand.”

Toll Gate scored on its opening possession to go up 2-0. However, Chariho’s Beauregard quickly tied it at 2 when he slashed to the basket for a layup. Next, Chariho center Gabe Felicetti fed Ciringione for a jumper to go up 4-2. Chariho would jump out to an 8-2 lead before Rayko was forced to use a timeout to try to get his team back on track.

However, the Titans’ struggles continued out of the timeout. Ouimette misfired on a 3-pointer before Beauregard nailed a 3-pointer, putting Chariho up 11-2. Beauregard would make another 3-pointer to go up 14-2 before Toll Gate was forced to call another timeout.

Then, Toll Gate guard Austin Giard made a layup to pull the Titans within 14-4. However, Ciringione buried another 3-pointer for Chariho, as it extended its lead to 17-4. Chariho’s Ciringione nailed another 3-pointer and after Felicetti scored a layup, Chariho held a 22-4 lead with 8:40 to play in the first half.

Toll Gate found a little rhythm which started when Giard passed to Joseph Gasbarro, who made a 3-pointer. A steal by Giard, who went coast to coast for a breakaway layup, cut the lead to 22-9. With 2:33 to play in the first half, Ciringione scored three points the old-fashioned way, when he made a layup while getting fouled, putting Chariho up 28-13. Toll Gate would trail 30-13 at the break.

Chariho continued where it left off, making a jumper to begin the second half. But then, Toll Gate’s Giard came up with a steal and got the ball to McGuire, who sank a 3-pointer and cut the lead in half at 32-16. Soon after, Giard crossed up a defender before slashing to the basket for a layup.

Toll Gate forward Ryan Sgroi made a jumper on the next possession. Next, Sgroi found McGuire for a layup and the Titans trailed 34-22 with 11:54 left. Toll Gate cut the deficit to 10 when Sgroi was there to put back a Giard missed layup. Though, Chariho would go back up 15 points at 41-26 on baskets from Ciringione and forward Dan Labelle with 7:22 to play. Ouimette made a 3 and McGuire a layup for Toll Gate, as it trailed 49-34 with 2:20 left. Then, Toll Gate sophomore Damien Mendoza dished to McGuire, who buried a 3-pointer, making the score 49-38. Ouimette cleaned up a missed layup in the final minute and pulled Toll Gate within 49-40. Toll Gate’s final points came at the charity stripe when Mendoza made two shots with 13.2 seconds remaining, making it 51-42.

“They’re a solid team,” Rayko said. “You can’t give a team like that a big lead, which is what we did. Playing down against a team like that is definitely difficult. If we didn’t start out in a hole, at the end of the game you never know what happens if we can keep it within five.”

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