Why Cranston West boys basketball might be prophets; Falcons to the quarterfinals
CRANSTON — The Cranston West boys basketball team entered the season thinking it might dominate with its speed.
Were the Falcons prophets or did they just know that their athleticism would be hard to match?
Prognosticators or not, Cranston West pushed every Coventry miss and make to the rim and it worked. The eighth-seeded Falcons seized a 54-47 Division II play-in final over No. 9 Coventry on Thursday night. The triumph sends West to the quarterfinal round against top-seeded Lincoln on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
“It's hard to sustain a run when you're scoring off their makes,” Cranston West coach James Sweeney said. “I like running off their makes even more than the misses.”
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Off a missed Coventry attempt, West pressed the tempo as Adreyan Perez spotted-up in the corner on a 2-on-1 break and canned the 3-pointer. The basket, which put Cranston West ahead, 51-44, with 1:36 left, broke the seesaw affair.
Jaymien Aponte iced the contest at the line and capped his career-high night with 26 points. Perez also chipped in 10 points in the win.
“It was very important because we know as a team, they never want to get back on defense,” Aponte said. “In practice, Coach had us running and we were just running the whole time to prepare for this game.”
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Coventry took its first lead of the game on a left-wing triple by Tyler Broady with 3:25 left in the third. But trailed entering the final frame and managed just three field goals in the fourth.
The 8 vs. 9 game typically provides the best opening round tilt and Thursday didn’t disappoint. It was a grind-it-out-affair at times as the Oakers wanted to slow the pace, but the Falcons proved too much.
“It’s a momentum killer, getting out on the break and getting a quick bucket,” Ryan Zarrella, who chipped in with seven points, said. “It just brings a team down if you can score that fast and work hard on defense and just keep it going.”
Cranston West’s 12 league wins are the most since the 2019-20 season.
“First home game for basketball in a while for the boys so it felt good and the place was buzzing,” Zarrella said.
Coventry takes step forward from last season
The Oakers won four more game than last year’s squad, which missed the playoffs.
Of the starting lineup, Coventry graduates three, including 6-foot-4 forward Logan Voelker and Samuel Fuentes, who paced the Oakers with 13 points. But they’ll return sophomore Caleb Whited and Broady to the starting rotation.
jrousseau@providencejournal.com
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Cranston West to the quarterfinals, face top-seeded Lincoln
