Worth the wait

Pats roll past Panthers for first boys’ basketball title

Matt Metcalf, Sports Editor
Posted 3/3/15

Back on January 2, the Pilgrim boys’ basketball team was in a tough spot.

The Pats had fallen to 1-3 in Division III after a 58-52 loss at home to Johnston.

But instead of packing it in, …

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Worth the wait

Pats roll past Panthers for first boys’ basketball title

Posted

Back on January 2, the Pilgrim boys’ basketball team was in a tough spot.

The Pats had fallen to 1-3 in Division III after a 58-52 loss at home to Johnston.

But instead of packing it in, the players continued to work – and that hard work paid off in a big way on Sunday.

The Pats, who were returning to the division finals for the first time in 17 years, captured their first title in school history, defeating Johnston, 65-55, to win the Division III championship.

For head coach Mike Batalon, the win was a testament to the dedication that his players displayed throughout the year.

“It feels great,” Batalon said. “These kids are unbelievable. They’ve been working hard since day one. I’m just so proud of them. We’ve come a long way over the season, improving and this is a great moment for us.”

The Pats rolled into the finals after a 48-33 win over Scituate, out-scoring the Spartans 32-11 in the second half, with junior Ethan Schneider depositing a game-high 18 points.

After Johnston edged top-seeded Moses Brown, 61-58, in the second semifinal on Friday night, the Pats knew that they would be facing the same team that handed them their third loss on their home court back in early January.

This time, though, Pilgrim was a much more confident, experienced group.

Johnston’s leading scorer, Ryan Yankee, netted a team-high 21 points in the first match-up. On Saturday, Yankee went into halftime scoreless and with three fouls.

“Chris Duchesneau did a great job on Ryan (Yankee),” Batalon said. “He’s an outstanding player and we knew that we had to slow him down if we wanted to have a chance today.”

Duchesneau also knew that the Panthers would try to run their offense through Yankee, so he wanted to eliminate that completely.

“Last time we played them, Yankee killed us,” Duchesneau said. “My whole objective in the first half was, once he crossed half-court, to pick him up and not let him touch the ball.”

Despite Yankee being a non-factor, Johnston jumped out to a 14-13 lead in the first half, but Pilgrim answered back with a strong surge.

With five minutes left in the first half, Tyrone Weeks blocked a shot down on the defensive end and pushed the ball up the floor to Matt Woods, who drained a 3 to give Pilgrim a 21-16 lead.

Just 30 seconds later, Weeks got fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 23-16.

By the time the buzzer sounded at the half, Pilgrim had a comfortable 30-18 lead, going into the break on a 17-4 run.

In the second half, it was more of the same for the Pats, extending their lead early on.

With 11 minutes to go, Schneider splashed a 3 to give Pilgrim a 40-22 lead.

Johnston was finally able to cut its deficit to within 10, 52-43, with four minutes left, when Peter Smith grabbed an offensive rebound off of a missed free throw and kicked the ball out to Yankee for a 3.

But every time Johnston crawled to within striking distance, Pilgrim would answer. The Panthers chipped away and made it a 7-point game, but that’s as close as they would get, as Pilgrim was tremendous from the free throw line down the stretch.

“Free throw shooting is a point of emphasis for us,” Batalon said. “On Friday night, we were 12-of-14 shooting free throws down the stretch and tonight we did enough to get by.”

Yankee did end the game with 12 points, all in the second half, but Batalon and the Pats were happy with his limited production. The Panthers’ Larry Dureault scored a game-high 20 points in the losing effort.

Pilgrim was led by three scorers in double figures. Senior Chris Duchesneau was dialed-in during the second half, leading the way with 12 points after the break and ending the game with a team-high 18 points. Schneider added 14 points and seven boards, while Weeks scored 13 points and also pulled down seven boards.

The win not only meant a great deal to Pilgrim and its school community, but to state tournament implications, as well.

With the victory, the Pats clinched the 15-seed for the state tournament, which is set to begin on Wednesday. As it stands, Pilgrim would play at La Salle in the first round.

From here on out, Pilgrim has nothing to lose. No matter what happens, it can say that it is the Division III champion.

“It’s the first time that Pilgrim has been in the finals in 17 years,” Batalon said. “We had a lot of alumni and students here tonight. The school and the Pilgrim community really got behind us, and we really appreciate that.”

Every team believes at the beginning of the season that they can win a championship, but as the season went on, the ideal started to become a real possibility for Pilgrim – and on Sunday, all of the pieces came together.

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  • KathyD

    Congratulations to the Pilgrim Patriots Basketball team with their win to be Division III Champs!!! These boys and coaches worked hard all season to get this win. With each game, you could see the improvement, and how well the team played together. I am proud to be a Patriots Mom!!

    Tuesday, March 3, 2015 Report this