Zancan, Clippers swarm Westerly
Cumberland claims ninth straight Division II victory
CUMBERLAND – The beat goes on for the Cumberland High boys’ basketball team.
Sparked by a defensive intensity that never allowed Division II contender Westerly to get into any sort of groove, the Clippers put the clamps down and rode that stinginess all the way to a convincing 71-39 win at the Wellness Center on Friday night. The winning streak is now up to nine games for Cumberland, now 11-1 in league play.
Westerly, which took the court minus 6-foot-8 senior forward David Tiedmann, never lead in this one and ultimately fell victim to a CHS man-to-man scheme that didn’t offer many open looks.
“We’ve been working very hard on our defense,” said Cumberland head coach Gary Reedy.
“Coach says all the time that defense wins ball games,” said junior Tyler Kolek.
Jackson Zancan led the Clippers with 22 points and was a beast both on the glass (14 rebounds) and in the rejection department (six blocks). Kolek added 21 points and nine rebounds while Dante Aviles-Santos had 11 points, four assists, and four steals.
It was Kolek who epitomized Cumberland’s defensive approach. The junior accepted the challenge of guarding Westerly senior guard Tabor Gates and practically shut him down.
Gates, who normally averages close to 20 points, had just six points on three field goals on Friday night.
“Tyler probably has two, three inches on Gates. He’s also got a pretty good reach and I thought that bothered (Gates) also,” said Reedy.
Added Kolek, “Myself and Gates, we’ve been battling since my freshman year. We’re good friends and it’s always a fun experience going up against him.”
Pat Murphy led the Bulldogs (9-3, Division II) with 13 points while Chas Morgan added 11 points. Westerly managed just 14 field goals for the entire with only one of them coming beyond the arc.
Westerly’s calling card is also defense, which was apparent after falling into a 9-2 hole and not allowing Cumberland to pull completely away. A Kolek three put CHS up 17-6, but Westerly chipped away to move to within nine.
The player who helped Cumberland get back on track wasn’t Zancan or Kolek. It was Ben Keeler, who completed a three-point play that put the home team up 22-10 with 5:15 left. Westerly never closed to within 10 points the rest of the way. Keeler scored five of his nine points in the first half, one that ended with the Clippers up 35-20.
“Ben’s coming on. He’s very confident right now,” said Reedy.
Cumberland was up 14 points when it finally put Westerly down for good. Kolek nailed a three off a nice feed from Aviles-Santos and Mitchell Lydon followed with an elbow jumper off a Westerly turnover. Zancan punctuated the hard-hitting 8-0 with a layup off another Bulldog turnover that upped the team’s lead to 18 points with nine minutes.
From there, Cumberland was in complete command. The lead was 30 points (6434) when Reedy pulled his starters with 3:35 left.
“I’m happy. This is a great win for us against a wellcoached team,” said Reedy.
“This was a big win, but we still have plenty of business to take care of,” said Kolek. “We don’t want anymore duds like our game against East Greenwich from earlier this month.”
Cumberland shoots for its 10th straight win on Monday night against Portsmouth.