Novans too much for Kilties Woonsocket gets shot at No. 1 Hendricken

Contributing writer

PROVIDENCE — As the final seconds ticked down, fans rushed onto the court to celebrate with the No. 5 Woonsocket boys basketball team, which survived 15 turnovers, eight second-half lead changes and a wild finish to defeat No. 4 Mt. Pleasant 58-57 in the Division I quarterfinals Tuesday night at the Jim Ahern Gymnasium.

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The Villa Novans scored the first seven points of the game and built a 16-6 lead sin what started out as a dominant effort on both sides of the ball. However, Mt. Pleasant tturned the tides early in a second half that feadtured eight lead changes.

“The first half, we came out and played terrrific defensively and held them to 21 points rand that’s important because this is a tough environment to play in,” Woonsocket coach lT.J. Ciolfi. y Late in the first half, the Novans began to struggle with turnovers and the Kilties began to claw their way back into the game, trailing t29-21 at halftime. t “At the end of the day when you get in this eenvironment, it’s going to have to be Denzel e[Lyles] and “Gismo” [Dwayne O’Hagan] that ttake us there. “When push comes to shove, during the last five minutes, those are the guys tthat we want to have the ball and we want to ebe on the glass and they did that too.”

The Kilties came out firing on all cylinders during the second half and capitalized on miscues and turnovers by Woonsocket during the first few minutes of the second half. “They [Mt. Pleasant] pretty much got rid of that eight-point lead in three minutes [during the second half],” Ciolfi said. “It helps a lot in preparation that we play them twice a year y because we watched a lot of film on them,” 3

Ciolfi said. “We were able to make some ady justments. We know each other.”

Dwayne Robinson-O’Hagan finished with 19 points and hit the eventual game-winning 3-pointer with 1:29 remaining in regulation to go ahead 58-55.

“It feels great,” O’Hagan said. “It felt like

it was a championship game. It was a tough one.”

Ciolfi had nothing but praise for O’Hagan and his entire team following the win. “When we needed a big shot, he was the one that makes it,” he said.

Denzel Lyles finished with 17 points and hit a go-ahead shot with 3:17 remaining. He also finished 7-8 from the free-throw line. “First off, it feels amazing,” Lyles said. “The environment was crazy. I’ve never been in this type of situation before.”

Chaynce Trottman, who finished with 22 points for Mt. Pleasant, scored a deep two-pointer to tie the game 32-32 with 12:55 remaining during the second half and the sold-out crowd went crazy.

When Mt. Pleasant took their first lead of the game four minutes into the second half, the crowd gave them a standing ovation. “Let me tell you, this is the toughest place to play in the whole state of Rhode Island,” Ciolfi said. After Mt. Pleasant jumped to a 41-35 lead, Woonsocket responded and showed their resiliency.

“Mt. Pleasant went on their run and we answered back which showed a lot of character,” Ciolfi said. “They do a lot of things defensively that require you to be tough or else they’ll eat you alive.”

During the last two matchups between these two teams, Mt. Pleasant turned the ball over a combined 25 times, and they survived a comeback attempt during the final minutes each time. “We didn’t talk about it [turnovers.] We were on to the next play after the turnovers,” Ciolfi said.

“Mt. Pleasant went on their run and we answered back which showed a lot of character,” Ciolfi said. “We made some big plays when we needed them. I’m really proud of these kids