Clippers suffer second-half letdown in loss
WARWICK – Things appeared promising for an all-Blackstone Valley showdown in the Elite Eight round of the R.I. Open Boys Basketball State Tournament.
Then like a comet falling from the sky, Bishop Hendricken junior James Caldarella got hot from beyond the arc. How hot? Try four 3-pointers in the final three minutes of the third quarter – a stretch of pinpoint effectiveness that ultimately took a lot of wind out of Cumberland High’s sails.
Instead of the 12th-seeded Clippers matching up with No. 4 seed Lincoln on Monday night, it will be the fifth-seeded Hawks taking on the undefeated Lions in an 8 p.m. matchup at Rhode Island College after rallying for a 50-39 win in opening-round action of the state playoffs on Saturday. Cumberland owned the upper hand for the game’s first 24 minutes before the game turned sharply in the Hawks’ favor – the home team dug in defensively with the Clippers managing just one field goal over the final 12:20 of the contest.
The hot shooting of Cumberland senior Connor Allard (team-high 13 points) and junior Ben Jahnz (nine points) was instrumental in building a lead that got as high as eight points in the third quarter. Both players combined for five 3s.
The firepower provided by Caldarella during a crucial three-minute stretch helped turn the game completely in Hendricken’s favor. After knocking down a pair of threes following two Cumberland turnovers, the guard hit a three from the corner as the horn that signaled the end of the quarter sounded. Caldarella was fouled on the play but missed the free throw.
“That shot was the killer,” said Cumberland head coach Gary Reedy about Caldarella’s buzzer-beating three.
Despite the barrage of 3s, the Clippers entered the final quarter only down three (39-36). Any hope of Cumberland mounting one final challenge slowly vanished as the Hawks continued to make just enough plays on the offensive end while continuing to maintain its vice grip on its opponent on the defensive end.
“You can’t score 14 points in the second half and expect to win,” said Reedy, noting that it had been nearly two weeks since Cumberland last played a game, while the Hawks were coming off a loss the previous Sunday to Classical in the Division I semifinals.
“We came out and played a good first half,” noted Reedy about Cumberland’s ability to pull into halftime with a 25-18 lead. “We played good defense and played them almost even in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, it seemed we didn’t have any legs. The shots were short, but we played hard.”
Caldarella finished with a gamehigh 22 points – 14 coming in the second quarter. The only other double-figure scorer for the Hawks was freshman Michael D’Ambra, who had 14 points.
“Credit my teammates for getting me the ball. I was feeling it. I kept shooting it and it was going in,” said Caldarella.
Looking ahead to Monday night at RIC, Reedy believes the Hawks will be ready out of the chute against Lincoln.
“I think we prepared them very well for Lincoln. We gave them a wake-up call to come out right away,” said Reedy.