Negron, Warriors too much for Mounties
Central Falls claims second win over a Valley foe in 3 days
WOONSOCKET – After playing – and winning – a double-overtime thriller against Lincoln on Monday night, Central Falls boys basketball coach Jeff Doucette admitted being a bit worried about the possible side effects before his Warriors battled Mount St. Charles 48 hours later.
“I’ll tell you, practice was ugly (Tuesday afternoon),” Doucette laughed while watching his guys run through pre-game shooting drills. “The kids were complaining about their legs being sore, and – I have to say, I felt it, too. I’m just getting my voice back!
“It took a lot out of us,” he added. “They didn’t want to run (Tuesday), and I understood, so we just got our shooting in and worked on some breakdowns we had against (Lincoln’s) 1-3-1 defense. I told the guys during practice, ‘Hey, we’ve got to dig down deep.’”
As it turned out, Doucette never had to worry. Central Falls needed only the first 3:27 of the Division III crossover contest to snag a 12-point lead, then survived the final 3:10 to gain a 54-41 victory on the Mount gymnasium’s new hardwood Wednesday evening.
“They actually came out energy; what I was afraid of beforehand was they wouldn’t after the double-OT game, then practice (Tuesday). I guess the adrenaline kicked in,” Doucette said. “The key to the game was our defense. Of course, they missed a lot of shots, but I’d like to believe it was because of the pressure, and the fact we forced them to take them.”
Junior guard Marcos Negron paced CF with a game-high 15 points and three steals, while classmate and forward Starlyn Mercado tacked on a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards (and six assists); senior forward Emmanuel Division 10 points and three assists; and junior guard/forward swing Dutchie Arroyo nine points, five rebounds and three thefts.
Withe the triumph, the Warriors improved to 6-5 overall and 4-2 in III-Central action.
For MSC (3-8 overall, 2-4 in IIINorth), frosh Jack Bennett drained a team-leading 12 points (with three boards and two steals), while senior Paul Brodeur contributed 10 points and three thefts; junior Tristan Cox four points, five rebounds and two steals; and classmate Danny Johnson seven points and five boards.
“This was a night that we thought we may have had CF on the ropes considering the double-overtime they played against Lincoln,” veteran mentor Henry Coleman stated. “They only had a day of rest, then had to go back at it (Wednesday), but I give them a lot of credit. They jumped out right away with a killer instinct and put us in an early hole.
“That proved to be the difference, but I’m proud of the way we never quit.”
Division hit a scoop layup just 38 ticks into the contest, and Negron turned a steal into a layup before Division nailed a trey to make it 7-0. Negron hit another trifecta and Arroyo a short jumper with 12:33 remaining in the first half for the 12-0 cushion.
The Mounties didn’t can its first basket until Brodeur netted a three with 10:12 left. CF upped its lead to 21-5 on Mercado’s bomb at the 6:31 mark, but Coleman’s crew did assemble a mini 6-4 run over the final 6:14 to enter intermission trailing 25-11.
Thanks to three steals over the first 2:55 of the final session, the Warriors manufactured an 8-2 surge, the final bucket coming on Arroyo’s lay-in off a turnover, making it 3313. Less than two minutes later, Division dropped another trey to push the advantage to 39-15.
And, with 6:39 left in regulation, Soares hit an easy jumper to make it 45-22, but the Mount refused to roll over. Brodeur delivered two three-pointers down the stretch, the last with 9.1 seconds remaining, to slice it 53-41.
All told, MSC outscored CF, 19-8, over the last 4:52, courtesy of several of the visitors’ 26 total turnovers. The Mount had 12 in each half.
“We turned the ball over way too much,” Coleman said. “We played on our heels at the beginning and weren’t being aggressive enough. We settled for what the defense was giving us instead of forcing the issue and creating better scoring opportunities.
“All we can do is learn from this and move forward.”