March 28, 2024

Townies Lose Out in Close fought Elite-Eight Basketball Action Sunday

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Two Halves of Basketball

Before the playoff game with rival LaSalle, Townie coach Alex Butler seemed calm. "It's in the team's hands now," said the veteran coach referring to his players. "We've come a long way to get here, had a good season and I know we'll come out ready to play." Indeed, EP was ready to play but couldn't hold on to an early, impressive lead. The Townies played two halves of basketball Sunday night against 22-4 league leading LaSalle in Elite Eight playoff action at Brown University. Unfortunately for East Providence, they lost the second half. East Providence started the game on fire as they used a combination of hot offense and tight defense in jumping out to an early lead and staying ahead of the favored Rams for most of the first half. East Providence seemed to score at will hitting long three-point baskets as well as two-point jump shots and some nifty lay-ups.

Marcus McCarthy (18 pts) was a key contributor for East Providence as were Zack Veiga (10 points), Jarron Santos (11 pts), Marcus McCarthy (18 pts) and Adam Duarte (12 pts). Throughout the first hald the Townies would stop LaSalle's offense with a tight perimeter defense and gain an advantage rebounding. East Providence would fast break often or pull up and hit on some deep three-point attempts. At times the Townie offense provided a balanced attack as evidenced by a deep three-point shot by Kyerstan Casey with 4:40 left in the first half to help maintain a 6 point Townie lead.

With the first half coming to a close, EP's Santos drove to the basket and threw up an alley-oop shot for a score. The Townies seemed to be playing all aspects of the game as well as they could. With East Providence spreading the floor the Townies continued to dominate LaSalle in the first half as the half ended with EP up 35-29. Townie fans began to feel an upset win and a trip to the final-four at URI next week.

The second half adjustments made by LaSalle began to work quickly, however, as the Rams came out flying and quickly derailed the Townie attack. Scoring 12 unanswered points while the Townies turned ice-cold offensively and committed a costly travel, the Rams stole the ball and Lawrence Sabir a senior Ram guard tied the game at 35. East Providence called a time out but the Rams stayed hot as Michael McCourt stepped back and hit a three-point shot putting LaSalle ahead for the first time. Another three-point shot by Sabir and the Ram lead was now 41-35.

East Providence could not regain the lead although making a valiant comeback. The Townies closed to within 4 points when Marcus McCarthy hit on two free throws and on a end to end drive shortly after, McCarthy's layup made the score 53-48. The Townies kept fighting from behind and on a good turn-around jump shot by Adam Duarte, Ep closed to within 3 points. Zac Veiga hit on a long three-pointer to make the score 58-55 for the Rams but EP otherwise remained cold offensively and LaSalle increased their lead to 62-55 with 1:32 left in the game. A breakaway drive for the Rams ended in a basket dashing the Townies hopes for a comeback. LaSalle defeated East Providence by a 69-60 final score, sending the Rams on to the final four.

Townie Head Coach Alex Butler thought his team had a chance to advance. "We did what we had to in the first half. We made them (LaSalle) play from behind which is hard for any team to do. But they came out of it in the second half. I am proud that our guys made it this far, while wanting to go further, we did have a good season," said Butler.

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