Titans use second-half surge to upset 'Canes

Jacob Marrocco
Posted 1/20/15

The last-place Toll Gate High School boys’ basketball team, now 3-6, built a lead of as many as 19 points en route to a 58-46 victory over Warwick Veterans Memorial High School, now 4-3, on the …

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Titans use second-half surge to upset 'Canes

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The last-place Toll Gate High School boys’ basketball team, now 3-6, built a lead of as many as 19 points en route to a 58-46 victory over Warwick Veterans Memorial High School, now 4-3, on the road on Friday night.

The Hurricanes played their third game in five days within Division III-South after having dispatched Chariho, 66-51, and Pilgrim, 49-32, on their home court earlier in the week. Toll Gate snapped a three-game losing streak after falling to Scituate, Chariho and Pilgrim since Jan. 8, losing by an average of nine points.

“It feels great [to get the win],” Toll Gate head coach Tom Rayko said. “We definitely hit turbulence early [in the season]. Our big man, Adam Brice, went down in the injury fund and was out for three weeks. [Junior] Joel Johnson was sick. [Sophomore] Amari Maduro ran into a little trouble, had to go away for a little while. I kept telling the kids ‘Keep working, keep working, keep working. If we ever get our whole team back, we’ll be really tough.’”

Titans’ junior Austin Ouimette led all scorers with 16 points and teammates Adam Brice and Kyle McGuire each chipped in 10 of their own. Brice was a key factor in limiting 6-foot-6 Vets’ senior Kevin Martin to only five points on the evening, all of those coming within the initial eight minutes of the first half.

Toll Gate led 28-23 after the intermission, and Vets’ senior Jeremy Batista converted a layup in the early minutes of the second half to cut the deficit to three. Batista’s shot would be the last made field goal for the Hurricanes until there was 4:20 remaining in the game. In that 10-plus-minute span, Vets only netted three points off as many successful free-throw attempts for senior Israel Thomas.

“I just think we got so excited that we were up and had a lot of momentum and we were playing good defense,” Rayko said. “We were actually able to put the ball in the basket, because that’s also been a trouble spot for us all season long. Once they saw the ball starting to drop for them and go through the basket, I think they were even more excited and then that just kept their energy up.”

Senior Shane Kittila’s jumper broke the shooting slump, but the score had already ballooned in Toll Gate’s advantage, 47-30. The Hurricanes missed 17 field goals during that span, including six three-point attempts. The Titans took advantage of eight Vets’ turnovers to extend their lead as well, netting 10 points off of their mistakes.

The Hurricanes turned on the full-court press with three minutes to go down 17 points and found mild success. Vets forced three successive Titans’ turnovers and Kittila, who led his team with 13 points, found a groove from beyond the arc when he hit a couple of three-pointers. Kittilla helped the Hurricanes pull within 10, but the Titans made 7-of-12 free throws down the stretch to seal their victory.

“[The full-court press] was just the fact we were down and trying to claw our way back,” Vets’ head coach Chris LeBlanc said. “We couldn’t put the ball in the basket. I think we got every shot we wanted to get and we got shots in the paint. Maybe it was just one of those nights. We had three league games in a week and we were just a step slow.”

The first half was a much closer affair, with neither team pulling ahead by more than five at any point. Ouimette drained two three-pointers in the first half to lead all scorers with 10. He helped the Titans get on the board first with a layup, and then got them out to a 9-4 lead with his first three-point attempt.

Martin and Batista each had five points in the first half, as the Hurricanes’ leading scorers. Martin’s early baskets down low helped Vets keep pace with the Titans early on, while his five rebounds in the opening minutes and three blocks gave them a defensive edge.

Brice eventually began to respond inside, though, and blocked Martin a couple of times to go along with his five points.

The Hurricanes and Titans exchanged blows up until the halfway mark, with the score tied at 16 apiece after Vets’ junior Ryan Wirth made a layup.

Ouimette pulled the Titans out to a 20-16 lead with a three-pointer, but Batista answered back with a deep shot of his own to pull Vets within one.

Another Wirth layup put the Hurricanes in the lead momentarily, but then Ouimette and junior Austin Giard hit consecutive jumpers to put the Titans back in front, 24-21.

Maduro helped extend the lead to five points after he committed a steal, lost possession and then picked up the ball for a layup. Thomas answered back with a shot of his own to bring the deficit back to three, but Brice’s attempt under the basket in the closing seconds gave the Titans momentum heading into halftime.

Toll Gate begins a brief two-game home-stand when they oppose Coventry High School tomorrow at 7 p.m. in a non-league matchup. The Hurricanes will look to get back on track when they host the Paul Cuffee School tonight at 7 p.m.

“Thank goodness we don’t have three games in a week again, until the next time we play Chariho, Toll Gate and Pilgrim again, which is pathetic,” LeBlanc said. “We got two games this week, we got to examine the week and we’ll just be good.”

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