Townies eliminate Lions
East Providence offense overwhelms Division III champs
EAST PROVIDENCE — Bound and determined, Lincoln High senior Randall Hien gathered a full head of steam as he prepared to drive into the teeth of the East Providence defense.
Two Townie defenders were there to rudely greet Hien, who lost control of the ball as he fell to the court. It was a sequence that unfolded with roughly eight minutes remaining in Thursday’s Sweet 16 contest.
In many ways, watching Hien give it everything he had when the degree of difficulty was at its peak perfectly encapsulated what the recently crowned Division III champs went through. The 11th-seeded Lions tried with all their might, but the Townies featured way too many answers en route to posting an 103-82 win that advanced No. 3 East Providence to the Elite Eight round of the R.I. Open state tournament.
The Townies were doubly blessed with a strong inside game where junior Brian Taylor was the focal point with a game-high 27 points and an outside attack that featured 11 three-pointers. Senior Josh Kauffman was EP’s top marksman with four threes as part of an 18-point outing. His classmate R.J. Pina was also effective with 19 points.
“We haven’t seen a team shoot that well all year,” said Lincoln coach Kent Crooks.
Lincoln did make it interesting as senior Vinny Nassi came out of the gate strong. His final game of high Lion career will go down as one of his best with 19 of his team-best 26 points coming in the first half.
“Vinny did some great things with the ball,” said Crooks.
Junior Octavio Brito contributed 22 points – a total that probably have been even greater had he not sat the final four minutes of the opening half with two fouls. Lincoln senior Josh Jahnz attacked the rim with a purpose on his way to netting 14 points while Hien and fellow senior Cody Anter ended up with 10 points apiece.
“I give my guys so much credit. My God, they battled and showed great heart,” said Crooks.
The Lions came out and showed they meant business with leads of 8-4 and 14-9. Each time, the Townies caught their opponent but Lincoln refused to back down. When Nassi hit a three after taking a feed from Anter and Jahnz added a free throw, the Lions were up 20-16 with seven minutes gone by.
Nassi’s strong showing continued when he scooped up an offensive rebound and kissed it off the glass to put Lincoln up one (28-27) with less than five minutes left.
“Given the season that (Brito) had, we knew he was going to be a key for them to stop. I knew I was going to have to step up, especially against a team like that,” said Nassi, who made three 3s. “I came thinking that this might be the last time I would be playing and wanted to give everything I had.”
With Brito on the bench, the Townies embarked on a game-changing 15-2 run that was driven by seven points from Taylor. Lincoln cut what was a 10-point deficit to five (45-40) thanks to a hoop from Jahnz and threes from Hien and Nassi, but the final 10 seconds of the half saw the Townies take back the momentum in a major way.
East Providence came up with the offensive rebound after a missed free throw and got another chance after a missed shot. Senior Matt DosSantos capitalized with a three at the buzzer that sank the Lions in a 49-40 hole.
“[The deficit heading into the second half] could have been even less,” said Crooks after the Lions in the first half turned the ball over nine times and missed the front end of two 1-and-1s.
Lincoln was still in the picture, down 62-51 after Brito made two at the line with exactly 12 minutes left. Needing to play as close to a perfect game as possible while hoping the Townies would cool off, East Providence did not oblige. East Providence led by 20 points with nine minutes left and had no reason to worry the rest of the way.
“We played against some pretty good competition, but they were definitely the most talented team we played this season,” said Nassi. “They’re a Division I team and their record speaks for itself. The kid Taylor is an unbelievable player. He really put pressure on our defense.”
In a game where the margin was 21 points, East Providence ended up with 22 second-chance points.
“I thought we made a good accounting for ourselves throughout the game,” said Crooks. “Give East Providence all the credit. They were a high-powered machine tonight.”
As time wound down, Crooks pulled his starters and gave each of them a hug as they walked by him.
“We’re happy with the season we had,” said Nassi. “We walked in believing we could make some noise in this tournament, but we gave it all we had.”
LINCOLN (82): Randall Hien 4 1-2 10, Octavio Brito 8 5-6 22, Andrew Bugera 0 0-0 0, Cody Anter 3 2-2 10, Fabio DeCarvalho 0 0-0 0, Vinny Nassi 8 7-9 26, Marcus Mensah 0 0-0 0, Josh Jahnz 5 4-6 14, Dylan Balon 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 19-25 82.
EAST PROVIDENCE (103): Joseph Vieira 1 0-0 2, Ilyas Torres 2 0-0 5, Christian Vieira 1 0-0 2, Justin Pena 3 0-0 6, Brian Taylor 12 2-2 27, Tyler Lima 2 0-0 6, Josh Kauffman 7 0-0 18, R.J. Pina 7 5-7 19, Zach Russell 1 0-0 3, Carew Gomes 1 0-0 2, Jashon Jarman 1 0-0 2, Matthew DosSantos 4 1-2 11. Totals: 31 8-11 103.
Halftime: EP 49-40
Three-point field goals: L 7 (Vinny Nassi 3, Cody Anter 2, Randall Hien, Octavio Brito); EP 11 (Josh Kauffman 4, Tyler Lima 2, Matthew DosSantos 2, Zach Russell, Ilyas Torres, Brian Taylor).