North Providence didn't need motivation Wednesday — and now it can begin to heal

EAST PROVIDENCE — Head coach Fernando Torres didn’t need to say much to his players on the North Providence boys basketball team on Wednesday night.

Motivation wasn’t going to be something the Cougars lacked.

This was the day of North Providence’s first game since their teammate, Gary Cleveland, suffered serious injuries in a car accident on Saturday. With Cleveland watching the game on his cell phone from his hospital bed in the Yale New Haven Hospital ICU, the Cougars were able to erase a late fourth-quarter deficit and pick up a 58-56 win over Central in the first game of East Providence’s Harry Mutter Holiday Tournament.

“It would be better to see him over there on the bench,” sophomore Jeremiah Lenus said. “It’s tough going out there but knowing I could at least make him happy and bring a smile to his face while he’s in the hospital, that helps me a little bit to move on throughout the day.”

“These kids wanted to win it for him really freaking bad,” Torres said. “They said it before the game, they said it in the locker room and they went after it.”

It didn’t take long for word of Cleveland’s crashto reach the team on Saturday. Those who hadn't heard about it woke up to texts or messages on Christmas Eve.

“To hear it really shattered my heart because I was just with him hours before,” Lenus said. “It really is tough to see someone I was just with hours before close to death.

“As a brother, I wish there was something I could do to stop it and prevent it and let him know it was about to happen. Anything to stop him from being where he is right now.”

On Christmas Day, Cleveland posted a message to his Instagram story with an update on his condition. He said he suffered a fractured back, broken femur, broken collarbone, broken ankle, broken thumb and a bruised rib but he was “hanging in there.”

“The trauma surgeon said it’s an absolute miracle he’s alive,” Torres said.

Cleveland has had two surgeries already and there is hope he’ll be moved out of the intensive care unit and transported to Hasbro Children's Hospital before the calendar turns. He has a long fight in front of him, but giving it his all is how Cleveland ended up on the basketball team in the first place.

After playing an integral role in North Providence’s Division IV Super Bowl title, Cleveland decided to give basketball a try. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to find minutes on the defending Division III champs and Torres wasn’t sure if he’d have any court time to hand out. So Cleveland forced his hand.

He quickly worked his way onto the court with his willingness to do whatever it took to help his team win. He wasn’t looking to get 20 points a night; Cleveland was content with playing tough defense, grabbing rebounds and walking out with more floor burns than anyone else.

“He said: ‘I promise I just want to be a part of the family and do what I can do, and if my role is coming off the bench or playing or not playing, I’m going to give it 100 percent,’ ” Torres said. “He ended up starting the last two games just because he plays so hard and he wants it so badly.

“One thing about Gary is he always plays for guys next to him. Some guys play for that next game, but he really, truly plays for the other guys on the team.”

“He’s a tough kid and he just wants to come out and do what he has to do,” Lenus said. “Him getting into the rotation early helped us a lot.

“Just to see his confidence go up and for such a tragic thing to happen, I do thank God every day that he is still alive and we’re able to talk to him.”

Torres didn’t need to give an inspirational speech because every player in his locker room knew who they were playing for. Torres reminded them of that on the court — every player was going to have to work a little harder to replace what Cleveland normally provides when he's on the floor.

North Providence led early, building its lead to 10 before Central closed the gap, eventually flipping the script in the second half. The Cougars didn’t give up and, led by the play of Ryan Rodriguez, got the deficit back to single digits before flipping the lead in the final minutes.

When the team needed energy in that second-half comeback, it didn’t have to look far.

“There are time in games I do take plays off and this just helps you realize you can’t do that,” Lenus said. “You never know when you could be dead or facing death, so every minute you’re out there is a hard minute, every drive is a hard drive and every free throw counts.

“It’s all about the little things and being appreciative of life.”

The Cougars celebrated in the locker room with pizza and a FaceTime call they’d been waiting for, gathering around a cell phone to talk to their teammate, who was just as excited as they were about the comeback.

This was the moment North Providence needed. After a weekend of not knowing if their teammate, their friend, their brother was going to be OK, the Cougars finally got a chance to be together as a group — and with Cleveland on screen, it brought back at least some semblance of normalcy.

“A lot of the guys are down a little bit," Lenus said. "You can feel the demeanor of the team is down but knowing we can still fight? It’s about basketball, but it’s bigger than basketball at the end of the day.

“Just being able to help a kid in the hospital that’s just down and when he sees his brothers go out there and fight and win, it’s a great feeling for him and I know it’s a great feeling for us.”

“That was kind of nice to have that moment there,” Torres said. “And you really can’t write it better than that.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: North Providence boys basketball picks up emotional win over Central