Mariners top Clippers in D-II
Brandon Kolek scores 1,000th career point in five-point loss
CUMBERLAND — The inexperienced Cumberland basketball team only trailed highflying Narragansett by one point with 2 minutes, 21 seconds left in regulation after junior all-division wing Brandon Kolek knocked down his third 3-pointer of the game.
Over the next 132 seconds, the veteran-laden Mariners showed the Clippers why they are one of the top teams in Division II and contending for a top-8 spot in the Open state tournament.
Senior point guard Will Doyle, senior wing Austin McKanna and junior wing Kyle Pereira all delivered important baskets and the trio also played impressive defense to help the Mariners escape the Blackstone Valley with a 71-66 victory Monday night.
“We didn’t play our best, but it’s good to get out of here with a win,” Narragansett coach Kyle Bodington said. “We weren’t intense to start the basketball game and we were very sloppy and we didn’t play good defense. We talked about it before the second half and they stepped up enough to win. We played good basketball for the last six minutes, but we have to improve.”
“We missed a couple of rotations on defense late in the second half and that gave them that little advantage and they’re a more experienced team than us,” Cumberland coach Gary Reedy said. “I’m happy. I really am because it’s coming.”
Narragansett (10-2 Division II) remains a game behind both Portsmouth and Westerly for first place in the division. The Patriots and Bulldogs both came to the Blackstone Valley Monday night and won, as the Patriots defeated Shea in overtime and the Bulldogs repelled Central Falls.
Senior guard Jason Palmer led the Mariners with a gamehigh 21 points, while McKanna scored 11 of his 20 points in the second half. Doyle (13) and Pereira (11) also reached double figures.
“I d like to see us get off to faster starts because it’s a bad habit to get into even though we keep winning that way,” Bodington said. “McKanna was big and he hit some big shots late in the game. Will being a playmaker at the top for us helped us out, too. I thought Jack Clancey off the bench really helped out when we needed him.”
Cumberland (5-7 Division II) finds itself in the toughest stretch of its season because Wednesday night the Clippers visit Chris Herren and the Patriots and then Friday night senior point guard Jacee Hamelin and the Bulldogs come to the Wellness Center.
One of the positives to come out of Monday’s game was that Kolek, who scored a team-high 19 points, reached the 1,000point plateau just 6:05 into the contest when he knocked down a 3-pointer as part of a fourpoint play to put the Clippers up 8-5.
“He’s been great and he’s a great kid and I’m proud of him,” Reedy said. “I’m kind of glad that it’s over and I don’t think he realized that it was coming tonight. Now he can move on from it and keep playing basketball.”
Kolek’s kid brother, talented freshman point guard Tyler Kolek, followed up with a 3pointer to put the Clippers up by six. Kolek hit a game-high five 3-pointers and finished with 16 points. Josh Brodeur added 12 points, 10 of which came in the second half.
Narragansett responded with a 7-0 run to take a onepoint lead and neither team led by more than a basket until halftime, as Brandon Kolek and Jackson Zancan combined to hit three free throws to put the Clippers up by one.
Tyler Kolek converted a four-point play two minutes into the second half to put the Clippers up three, but McKanna and the Mariners responded with an 8-2 run. Cumberland’s last lead came at 7:32 on a Brandon Kolek floater and then the Mariners started playing the basketball Bodington wants to see through out February and March.
The Mariners attacked the glass and forced turnovers to take a six-point lead they would never relinquish.
“At the end of the game we slowed down, ran our offense and took good shots,” Bodington said. “We did stuff we normally don’t do early in the game and then settled down.”