JV Tournament: Middletown Prevails Over Prout

NARRAGANSETT - The third place game of the tournament almost foreshadowed the final, as Middletown held off a late surge by the Prout School to win 45-44.

Middletown led 45-43 with seven seconds remaining, when Jacob Reilly accidentally fouled Casey Farell about 35 feet from the basket.

With a chance to tie, Farell calmly sank the first shot. However, Middletown called timeout, and the icing seemed to work, as Farell missed the second shot.

In a bit of bad luck for the Crusaders, they had mostly avoided fouling in the second half. After the missed free throw, Prout gave a foul, but Middletown wasn’t in the bonus yet. As a result, the Islanders inbounded the ball with a second left and were able to dribble the clock out.

Connor Russ and Jake Lyman both had 15 points for the Islanders. Jack Lambrecht had 15 for Prout, followed by Farell with 13.

Mariners Win OT Thriller

It was a family affair Sunday afternoon, as Dan Doyle and Brendan Byrne matched the clutch play of the Patriots with some of their own at Narragansett High School.

Byrne hit two free throws at the end of regulation to tie the score at 35, and Doyle had a team-high 15 to lead the Mariners past Division I North Kingstown, 42-39, in overtime in a four-team junior varsity tournament.

Byrne struggled through much of the game, as he was held scoreless in the first half and most of the second. However, he was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line and also had a key baseline drive for a layup in the overtime.

The Mariners also got key contributions on the defensive end from freshmen Joseph Sekator and Tyrell Smith. Both had multiple steals pressing, and both finished with eight points.

Down 40-39 in the overtime, North Kingstown had multiple chances to tie or take the lead. However, the Skippers missed a jumper, leading to a rebound by Doyle with 10 seconds remaining.

North Kingstown fouled Doyle, who sank both free throws, giving the Mariners a three-point lead. The Skippers got two clean 3-point shots in the waning seconds of the game, but neither fell, and the Mariners escaped with the victory.

Matt Madoian led the Skippers with 10 points. North Kingstown had a balanced attack on offense, as eight different players had baskets. Chris Lenox and Jake Mansfield both had five points, and Randall Minogue had four points.

The Junior Varsity Tournament: A Narragansett Family Tradition

The junior varsity tournament was the second annual, and started a sort of family tradition. Narragansett High School senior and varsity basketball member Patrick Doyle organized it as his senior project, following in the footsteps of Billy Byrne .

Doyle said he consulted a bit with Billy – and his mom – before doing his own tournament this year.

“I started planning in September with [NHS head coach David] Gee, my mentor,” Doyle said, adding that he spent a night with Gee and a night with the Byrnes, picking their brains for what worked and what didn’t the year before.

“Billy helped me a lot, and Mrs. Byrne,” Doyle said.

The hardest part was actually lining up all the various volunteers, Doyle said. For the most part, it was boys’ varsity basketball players volunteering – Francis Castrovillari, Matt and Jeff Pistachio, Jarred Whalen, Patrick Degnan – with Chelsea Sahagian and Jordan Cameron of the girls’ team running the concession stand.

Admission for the tournament was $4 for adults, and $2 for children and students. Proceeds benefited the boys’ basketball program.

Doyle added that he was happy with how the tournament ran, and with the result.

“It’s good that Narragansett represented well,” he said.

As far as his post-high school options, Doyle said he’s still weighing his options. He said he definitely wants to play college basketball.

According to statistics kept by The Providence Journal, Doyle is averaging about 15.5 points per game, good for about 28^th in the state, and he also serves as the team’s point guard.

Like plenty of Narragansett events, the family ties for the tournament ran pretty deep. Pat’s little brother Dan was Narragansett’s starting point guard, and Billy’s little brother Brendan hit several clutch shots.

Watching from the stands was eighth grader William Doyle, a standout on the Pier School team. Freshmen Jonathan Whalen, Jared Field and Pete Durkin, members of the junior varsity, also have older siblings either on varsity or who played basketball before graduating from NHS.

NOTES

• All tournament games featured two 20-minute halves with running clock, meaning, no clock stoppage on whistles. However, the final two minutes of each half, the clock was stopped on any whistle or out of bounds play. (This is a common format for charity or informal tournaments.)
• In the opening round, Narragansett beat Prout 61-36 to advance to the finals. North Kingstown beat Middletown 57-22.