No. 2 St. Raphael comes up short of title goal

KINGSTON – For many Interscholastic teams, history suggests that it’s been a successful season when you finish runner-up in the divisional tournament and reach the Final Four of the open state tournament.

That’s what the 2016-17 St. Raphael boys basketball team accomplished. Understandably, there’s a feeling that more could have been achieved.

Becoming the last team left standing was a vision dashed by a determined Shea squad that simply ran past SRA during the second half of Saturday’s semifinal-round contest at URI’s Ryan Center. In the Saints’ camp, the season-ending 65-57 loss was tough to digest, particularly when accounting for a certain redemption aspect.

Awin over Shea would have setup a rematch of the Division I finals with the same Bishop Hendricken crew that earlier this month won the title with a 63-54 triumph. St. Raphael desperately wanted another crack at the Hawks, yet no one in the Raiders’ locker room got the memo.

Alas, the Saints were left with no choice but to pick up the pieces and deal with the reality that their season – as glittering as it seemed on paper – was over. Perhaps in the not-so distant future, the players and coaches will look back and reflect on all the good that was accomplished – 21 wins compared to five losses, a Division I-North crown, and the No. 2 seed in the divisional and state playoffs.

For now, it hurts not being able to reach the season’s final contest and having a chance to play for the program’s first state title since 2011.

“Unfinished business,” SRA senior forward Trevante Jones said. “At the start of the season, we all had that goal of going to the state championship. To not fulfill it is tough.”

What the Saints needed against the Raiders was a clone of Peter Wilson, the senior guard who played a nearperfect game with 23 points on 11-of19 shooting. The other Wilson could have been responsible for checking Shea’s talented freshman guard, Erickson Bans. No matter who SRA head coach Tom “Saar” Sorrentine assigned to guard Bans, nothing seemed to work.

“We had a hard time with Bans,” Sorrentine said. “He dribbled out of most of the traps we threw at him. We tried to run at him and have help. Everything we did, we couldn’t get him.”

Bans scored 16 of his game-high 27 points after halftime, many coming off dribble penetration. Sorrentine admitted that he never considered putting the taller Wilson on Bans, and with good reason.

“I needed his legs on offense,” Sorrentine said with a slight chuckle. “I needed a couple of Peters.”

What the Saints also desperately needed was a player of Jones’ caliber remaining on the court as long as possible. When he picked up his third foul at 6:10 mark of the first half, St. Raphael led 21-15. Even though his depth on the bench was razor thin to begin with, Sorrentine was left with no choice but to take out his chief lowpost threat in Jones, who could only watch as the Raiders came back to tie the score at halftime (29-29).

“It killed me to sit on the bench, but I had faith in my guys that they were going to step up,” said Jones, who didn’t pick up a foul in the second half and finished with four points, eight rebounds, and five steals in 25 minutes.

Confirmation that the Saints had a fight on their hands came when Bans hit a three at 10:41 of the second half to give the Raiders their first lead of the contest at 41-39. The deficit grew to six before SRA got two baskets from senior Willie Washington (15 points, 10 rebounds) and one from junior Zaheer Santiago to tie the game at 4545 with under eight minutes remaining.

Another surge by the Raiders proved too much to overcome. When Gerald Soe stole the ball and banged in a three from the left wing, the run stood at 14-3 and the Saints trailed by 11 (59-48) with 4:14 left.

Back-to-back layups by Wilson helped St. Raphael move to within four (61-57) but Shea scored the game’s final four points and as a result lived to see another day. The Raiders shot 60 percent in the second half and won despite committing 22 turnovers to 17 for the Saints.

“I thought we played hard. We just didn’t get it done,” Sorrentine said. “I thought (Shea) was a little more physical than we were. They bumped us off a lot of loose balls.”

For graduating members Wilson, Washington, and Jones, they should realize that they were part of putting SRA basketball back on the map.

The Saints suffered through three straight losing seasons before breaking through in 2015-16 with 11 league wins and a spot in the state playoffs. As seniors, they successfully elevated the program to an even higher level.

For those scheduled to return to the fold, the challenge will be to ensure the Saints remain as one of the elite programs in Division I.