LATE MONDAY: McNamara makes history; Classical survives upset bid
PROVIDENCE — Lincoln’s Wayne McNamara knifed through the Hendricken defense, followed by a jump stop in the paint. After that, there was a 3-pointer from outside the key. His quintessential fourthquarter creativity showcased the senior’s stardom on a historic night.
Lincoln’s all-time scoring mark now belongs to McNamara.
His 26 points broke Tom Coulombe’s record of 1,396 career points as the Lions downed Hendricken, 74-53, in the Elite 8 round of the boys basketball state Open Tournament at Rhode Island College on Monday.
“We had a chip on our shoulder going into this game,” McNamara said. “A lot of D-I teams, and teams in our division, they might not care that we went 25-0 and won our D-II championship. We went in with a chip on our shoulders ready to play.”
Classical, the D-I champions, withstood an upset bid from East Providence for an 80-73 victory in the earlier game.
“Everyone’s fighting for their playoff life,” Classical coach John Kavanagh said.
Classical and Lincoln will play each other in the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the Ryan Center.
Here’s more on the first night of the Elite 8 round in the boys Open Tournament:
Lincoln makes a statement
Lincoln had a message for its opponent and opened its game against Hendricken with a 9-0 run. It ended the half with an 11-0 run.
“I think we made a statement, but we’re not done yet,” said Camden DiChiara, who finished with 25 points for the Lions.
Joshua Bergeron (11 points) canned a 3 from the right wing to halt a Hawks’ run in the second quarter and then hit from the opposite corner in the third quarter to put the Lions ahead by 10. Lincoln, which shot 58% from the field, cruised from there as McNamara connected on seven straight attempts.
“Hendricken is a great team; they’ve been a great team for a while now,” Bergeron said. “So we just thought we were the underdogs here and we just wanted to bring it to them and make the first punch.”
Lincoln coach Jeremy Wilner said: “We’re at the point where we know who we are and we have to go prove it for 32 minutes every game.”
McNamara, who broke the program scoring record with a layup in the first quarter, can add to his tally against the Purple on Saturday.
“Classical is very tough team, another undefeated team, and we just have to go in ready to play defensive and trust the offense is going to come,” McNamara said.
Classical survives and advances
With how the seeds played out, the top-ranked Purple were the only D-I team to face another league opponent in the quarterfinals.
The Townies presented a difficult matchup with Kenaz Ochogwu’s size against Classical. But it didn’t matter for Azzy Harrison.
The senior tallied 32 points in the triumph. His final basket, a 3-pointer from the right corner, iced the game with 1:37 left in regulation.
“East Providence is a great team and we have a lot of history with them,” Kavanagh said. “They ended our season last year in the Open Tournament; they beat us at home in the Sweet 16.”
Ochogwu dominated in the paint and finished with 25 points.
East Providence cut it deficit to 68-65 on back-toback baskets by Derrell Liggins (17 points). But Classical then went on a 9-1 run to close out the game as Harrison’s 3-pointer capped the sequence.
“We just couldn’t get into a rhythm offensively or defensively,” Kavanagh said. “We couldn’t get consecutive stops on the defensive end and, when we did get stops, we ended up turning the ball over or forcing a bad shot.” jrousseau@providencejournal.com
On X: @ByJacobRousseau