Novans advance to Open quarters
NORTH KINGSTOWN — There are no style points at this stage of the season. Realistically, it’s about surviving and advancing.
Should the Woonsocket High boys basketball team fashion a run that truly leaves a mark on this year’s open state tournament, no will care about the low-scoring rock fight that ensued against La Salle Academy on Thursday night. Both teams struggled on offense but the fifth-seeded Novans got the better of their opponent on the defensive end in a 42-29 win at North Kingstown High School.
Woonsocket now heads to the Elite Eight, set for Sunday at CCRI-Warwick. The opponent will be Barrington as the No. 13 Eagles outlasted No. 4 Narragansett in overtime, 71-64.
As for dispatching the 12th-seeded Rams, Woonsocket held on despite missing 14 straight shots to begin the second half. The first points of the latter half didn’t come until the 8:25 mark when Dwayne Robinson-O’Hagan made two at the line.
On this night, Woonsocket followed a much different script. Instead of outscoring their opponents, the Novans got down on the defensive end. La Salle managed 13 points in the second half after pulling into halftime with 16.
“It was ugly but we kept getting stops,” WHS head coach T.J. Ciolfi said.
Added Robinson-O’Hagan, who finished with 13 points, “Tonight, we played that defensive part.”
Woonsocket senior Denzel Lyles was the only player on either side who made an impact on the offensive end, scoring 18 points. Sixteen of those points came in the first half while the lone two in the second half was the result one a one-handed dunk that upped Woonsocket’s lead to 2921 with 6:46 remaining.
Elijah Perry led the Rams with 10 points. After La Salle pulled to within 10 (34-24) with 3:38 left, Woonsocket got two free throws from Jossue Hernandez and a hoop from Ousmane Kourouma that led to both benches being emptied with 2:35 to play.
The Woonsocket offense was a big issue early on as the Novans missed eight of their first 10 shots. On the other side, La Salle settled in nicely, hitting three 3-pointers to grab an 11-4 lead. Before things got too out of hand, Ciolfi called for time. The message clearly hit home, as Woonsocket turned a ragged start into an impressive showing on both ends of the court.
There was a stretch where Lyles couldn’t miss with his jumper. After a couple of strong finishes at the rim, he stepped outside and connected on backto-back 3s that helped the Novans grab their first lead of the contest at 16-13. La Salle answered with a three from Per- ry but Lyles quickly untied it with an 18-footer.
“I reminded them that we’re playing for two hours,” Ciolfi about the timeout that he called after the Rams sprinted out to a seven-point advantage. “Sometimes, they want to do it fast but it’s about one possession at a time.”
As Woonsocket continued to ascend as part of a 19-5 momentum-shifting run, La Salle went into a deep freeze. The Novans guarded with a firm purpose and that resulted in holding the Rams scoreless over the final six minutes of the first half. Over that span, La Salle missed its final nine shots and also committed a shot clock violation. Lyles scored on a putback that capped off a 9-0 run for the Novans, who took a 25-16 lead into the break.
From there, points were truly at a premium. La Salle moved to within 25-21 but that’s as close as the Rams would come on a night that saw Woonsocket get stop after stop.
“Obviously you can’t win a basketball game when you score 29 points,” La Salle coach Eric Simonelli said. “That’s a great team and they have great players, but I don’t think we gave up any open looks all night long. We executed the game-plan perfectly, but if you’re going to beat Woonsocket, you’ve got to make perimeter shots and tough shots around the basket against their length and athleticism.”