Tolman outlasts Northmen
No. 1 Tigers will face No. 4 Burrillville next
PAWTUCKET – Tolman High head coach Walter (“Bunky”) Gonzalez had been in the midst of a rather tense situation during his squad’s D-II quarterfinal clash against North Smithfield, but still couldn’t help overhearing that his alma mater, rival Shea, had compiled a significant second-half lead over the male Tigers in another playoff tilt crosstown.
The second half belonged to Declan Quinn (14 points) and sophomore Octavio Brito (10 points, five assists and three steals) as the Lions answered an early Mount run to secure a 66-59 victory.
“We wanted revenge, that was a big factor,” Anter said. “We all just wanted to go out there and beat them because of what happened a few weeks ago. The difference between last time and this game was we all played together. They were hot [from the 3-point line] last time, but this time we were on.”
“Give Mount a lot of credit because they’re a very good team, so to beat them on their home floor is a tremendous win for these guys,” Lincoln coach Kent Crooks said. “Coming into the game I thought we’d have to do something special on Jordan Perry because of the way he played in the last game. We stuck with our 2-3 zone and closed out well. It’s just that [Tommy Burke] made some big shots.”
Mount St. Charles is going to hang a banner for its first division title in 24 seasons, but the Mounties really wanted another shot at No. 1 Toll Gate in the semifinals. When the teams met on Feb. 14, the Mounties were fueled by the shooting of Perry and Ben Ellis, but Tuesday night they combined for just three points.
Burke, who was in Ireland when the teams last met, hit six 3-pointers and scored a team-high 20 points. Danny Johnson did a little bit of everything to scored 14 points. Sophomore center Gary Kalmer came off the bench to score seven points.
“We had a few guys come out a lit-
tle tight and we left some points off the board in the first half when we had some good looks. We dug ourselves a hole,” Mount St. Charles coach Henry Coleman said. “To give Lincoln credit, they came out and shot the ball really well, especially Cody Anter. We had some defensive breakdowns and we could never quite dig ourselves out of the hole we created.”
The Lions will now travel to Johnston High Friday night at 5:30 to face the Titans for a spot in Sunday’s final. In the teams’ first meeting last month in Warwick, Titan 1,000-point scorer Brandon Scott exploded for 31 points in a 61-54 victory.
“We get them on a neutral floor, but the kid Scott is an absolute beast,” Crooks said. “We have to clamp down on him, but they ran the table. They’re a Division II team, but we’re going to have to bring our A-game. And, we’re going to have to believe.”
Believe is the word Crooks jotted down on the white board in the locker room prior to Tuesday night’s tilt. The Lions trailed only one time – 1-0 on a free throw by Woonsocket native and Mount senior Isaiah Lee. Lincoln answered with 10 straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers from the dependable Anter.
Burke and Anter exchanged 3-pointers midway through the half, but the closest the Mounties got was four after Burke’s third 3-pointer of the half. Lincoln responded with a 7-0 run thanks to a 3-pointer from Brett Bessette to go into halftime with a 3019 advantage.
“Tommy Burke played really well. He’d struggled the last couple of weeks, so it was good to see him get going,” Coleman said. “He carried us a bit, unfortunately we didn’t have
enough of a supporting cast.”
Just as they did in the previous contest when Lincoln led 22-20 at the break, the Mounties stormed out of the locker room and went on a run. Powered by Lee and Johnson, Mount went on a 9-2 run over the first 1:49 of the half to close the gap to just four.
Unlike Feb. 14, the Lions responded to Mount’s run in a positive fashion. Quinn scored six straight points and junior point guard Josh Jahnz (9 points) drove to the hoop for a bucket to stretch the lead to 12. With the lead at seven points with 5:55 remaining, Crooks drew up a dead-ball play for Anter, who buried a 28-foot 3-pointer to stretch the lead back to 10.
“We’ve been doing that play all year, it’s always consistent and usually works.” Anter said.
“That shot was big,” Crooks said. “We sort of saved that play for that moment. We’ve said to Cody that his game’s going to explode when he starts to drive. He had a couple of nice cuts and nice finishes, so he’s not just an outside shooter.”
Even though the Lions made just three of their final 12 free throws, the closest Mount got over the final 5:55 was seven when Burke canned a cosmetic 3-pointer at the buzzer. LINCOLN (66) Declan Quinn 5 4-4 14, Tyler McNulty 1 0-2 3, Brett Bessette 1 0-0 2, David Du 0 0-0 0, Cody Anter 7 6-8 25, Marty Gaughan 1 1-4 3, Octavio Brito 3 3-3 10, Josh Jahnz 3 3-8 9, totals 21 17-30 66. MOUNT ST. CHARLES (59) Isaiah Lee 2 1-2 6, Tommy Burke 6 2-4 20, Tristan Cox 0 1-2 1, Gary Kalmer 3 1-2 7, Nick Platek 1 2-2 5, Jordan Perry 1 1-1 4, Danny Johnson 6 1-2 14, Ben Ellis 0 0-0 0, Joe Lynch 0 0-0 0, Jared Beaudoin 0 0-0 0, totals 20 9-17 59.
3-pointers – L, Cody 5, McNulty, Brito; MSC, Burke 6, Lee, Perry, Platek, Johnson.
Halftime – Lincoln, 30-19.