CLIPPERS MAKE HISTORY
No. 16 Cumberland knocks off No. 1 Bishop Hendricken
“How’d we pull it off? I have no idea, but it feels great.” — Jackson Zancan
CRANSTON – Much more often than not when Cumberland High’s players enter into the traditional handshakes/fist bumps line with Division I foe Bishop Hendricken, they’re the ones accepting the consolations, like “Nice game” and “Way to go.”
The Clippers didn’t like the feeling, and junior guard Dante Aviles-Santos put an exclamation point on it before they – as the 16th seed – met the top-ranked Hawks for the third time this season in the first round of the Open Tournament at the Cranston East gymnasium on Thursday night.
Coach Gary Reedy’s crew had twice lost to the Hawks this winter, the last time two weeks ago by eight, so Aviles-Santoss offered this: “Not a single person in the state believes we stand a chance of winning, but who cares? The only thing that matters is if We think we can. We need to give it our all for the entire game, and if we do, we can beat these guys.”
Before a sizable, vociferous, partisan (most for the Warwick Catholic school) crowd, Cumberland withstood a furious, late charge by the favorites down the stretch and pulled off a massive 6255 upset of the Hawks.
It did so by controlling the defensive boards, forcing the Hendricken into several missed shots and a superb job by Reedy of managing senior center/captain Jackson Zancan’s foul trouble through the final six minutes to improve to 14-11 overall.
Not only that, but the Clippers – again the No. 16 seed in the entire event – now will face Division III regular-season champion Toll Gate in a quarterfinal slated for 2 p.m., Sunday at the CCRI-Warwick gymnasium.
Hendricken’s campaign came to a stunning close at 23-3.
Before the contest started, Reedy spoke glowingly of his team’s maturity.
By JON BAKER jbaker@pawtuckettimes.com
“We’ve had a very good season, considering how young we are (with four seniors),” he stated. “They’re really surprised me. They’ve ll really grown so much as players and as young men the past month or so.
“We’ve had some bumps in the road, no question,” he added. “We’ve lost some players and had to regroup, so it’s been hard, but – to be honest with you – it’s one of the proudest seasons I’ve ever had. I’m so proud of these boys and what they’ve overcome.”
When the astonishing finish occurred, Reedy reinforced his feelings.
“Man, I’m at a loss for words; I’m just as stunned as everyone else, but I knew we had it in us – I knew it,” he explained. “These guys played so well. We have grown so much. Think about it, when the regular season ended, we were a 9-9 team, but we don’t play like a 9-9 team anymore.”
Zancan paced the winners with a double-double, producing 21 points and 11 rebounds, not to mention six blocks, while freshman Colin Mories added 14 points, four assists and three boards; sophomore Will Andrews nine points, three rebounds, two thefts, two assists and a block; Aviles-Santos seven points, five steals, three rebounds and two assists; junior Ben Keeler a critical six points and three boards; and frosh guard Seth Anderson five points, four rebounds and three caroms.
For the Hawks, senior Andre De Los Santos mustered a team-leading 20 points, classmate Bobby Fiorito 12, sophomore Sebastian Thomas seven, junior Angel Sanchez six and 6-5 sophomore guard Tyriek Weeks a scant five.
He battled foul trouble most of the game, therefore keeping his points down.
Cumberland had trailed by as many as 11 (28-17) after a conventional De Los Santos three-point play with 5:02 remaining in the opening stanza, but it slowly chiseled away at that gap, outscoring the Hawks 16-8 the rest of the way. A Zancan 3-pointer, then an athletic layup, helped the Clippers slice it to 3127, but De Los Santos knocked down a boband-weave one-hander in the lane to push it back to six at intermission. n
y At the start of the second, Cumberland continued its assault on the favorites. Mories hit two foul shots and Zancan a coast-to-coast lay-in before the latter planted a baseline six-footer to knot it for the first time at 33-all with 2:19 elapsed.
After two more deadlocks, the last at 3737, Hendricken fought back with a 7-3 surge to gain a 44-40 cushion with 7:06 left in regulation.
Exactly 15 ticks later, however, Keeler nailed a pivotal trey, then a floating hook while racing across the lane to give the lead back to the Clippers at 45-44 at the 6:11 mark. And, 35 seconds after that, Zancan “canned” another three to push it to 48-44.
A Weeks layup cut it to 50-49 with 4:11 remaining, yet Mories hit a short jumper, then Thomas missed two from the charity stripe before Mories dropped a spinning one-hander with 2:44 left for the 54-49 advantage.
Hendricken nevertheless stormed back once more; Fiorito landed two freebies with 1:41 on the scoreboard clock to make it 5553. Over the next 40 seconds, though, Zancan hit two from the line, Moris three of four and Aviles-Soares another (with 16.8 left) to seal it.
“I told the kids at halftime to hang in there; after Jackson got his fourth, I said that we were going to go offense/defense with him, and that actually paid off,” Reedy stated. “We put him in to rebound and to help run the offense, but it also gave him a breather. We got lucky. It kept his legs fresher.
“They key thing in this game was we made our foul shots (19 of 28, 68 percent), and that’s something we struggled with all year,” he continued. “Colin really took care of the ball late in the game, and Dante was right there with him doing the same thing. “Dante’s leadership really showed here.” Offered Zancan: “How’d we pull it off? I have no idea, but it feels great. We played as hard as we could. Even before Dante gave his pre-game thing, everyone on the team knew we had the talent and potential to win it if we executed.
“Thankfully, we did. We’re movin’ on.”
CUMBERLAND (62) – Jackson Zancan 8 3-4 21, Dante Aviles-Sabtos 2 3-6 7, Will Andrews 2 4-4 9, Ben Keeler 2 1-3 6, Colin Mories 4 5-6 14, Seth Anderson 1 3-5 5, Jackson Walsh 0 0-0 0, Jake Morey 0 0-0 0, Shane Calabro 0 0-0 0, Tyler Provost 0 0-0 0; totals 19 19-28 62.
HENDRICKEN (55) – Bobby Fiorito 3 5-7 12, Sebastian Thomas 3 0-3 7, Sebastian Basillo 1 1-2 3, Andre De Los Santos 9 1-1 20, Angel Santos 2 2-2 6, Helio Sousa 1 0-0 2, Tyriek Weeks 2 0-0 5, Cameron Hughes 0 0-0 0; totals 21 9-17 55. Three-point field goals: Zancan 2, Andrews, Keeler, Mories, Fiorito, Thomas, De Los Santos, Weeks.
Halftime: Hendricken, 33-27.