[VIDEO] Holiday Tournament: Mariners Extinguish Avengers’ Crusade

NARRAGANSETT – On Wednesday night, the Narragansett High School boys basketball team shot a paltry 42.9 percent from the free throw line.

Unfortunately for the Division III East Greenwich Avengers, that was the only deficient part of the Mariners’ game. Led by drives to the rim from seniors Pat Doyle and Pat Degnan, and a strong low post effort from Jeff Pistacchio, Narragansett easily took care of the Avengers 71-42.

Doyle finished with 16, and while Degnan only had five points, his drives opened up the lane for Pistacchio to work. The junior finished with 14 points.

Narragansett (3-2, 1-2 Division II-South) head coach David Gee subbed liberally in the second half, but his bench had little trouble with East Greenwich. Zachary McKanna, Eric D’Aguanno, Anthony Nero and Dan Doyle combined for 23 points.

Ryan Gavin led East Greenwich (1-5, 1-1 Division III-South) with eight points, followed by Ben Chester with seven. East Greenwich trailed 19-2 early in the game, and never cut the lead to single digits.

The Mariners will play Fitch High School of Groton, CT in the finals Thursday night. Tip-off is at 7:45 p.m. East Greenwich will play South Kingstown in the consolation game at 6 p.m.

Fitch Survives Against South Kingstown

Using great individual efforts from Chad Graham and Chris Corum-Giles, the Fitch High School boys basketball team overcame a physical effort down low from the South Kingstown Rebels, winning the opener of the tournament 54-47.

After being held to four points in the first half, Graham exploded for 21 in the second, repeatedly slicing through the paint and Rebels’ defenders. Corum-Giles provided the offense in the first, scoring 11 of his 16 in the opening half.

South Kingstown had chances in the final five minutes, but struggled to hit shots. Using a size advantage down low, Sean Healy and Chase Almond each had 12 points, but the Rebels struggled from outside.

Doing their best to emulate the woeful shooting of the Rhode Island Rams, the Rebels didn’t hit a single shot from 3-point range. South Kingstown also only shot 60 percent from the line, missing five of 14 free throws. In contrast, Fitch sank 11-of-13.

Following the game, South Kingstown head coach James Champion declined comment to myself and a reporter from The Narragansett Times, citing the absence of any reporters at the Rebels’ 59-55 overtime win against Bishop Hendricken.

“It was our biggest victory in 10 years and no one was there,” he said. “Don’t ask me about tonight’s game, ask Fitch’s head coach.”