Rebels Spoil Skippers Senior Night

The South Kingstown High boys basketball team spoiled senior night for North Kingstown High by defeating the Skippers 64-62 Monday at North Kingstown High School.

“It was definitely your typical North-South game,” South Kingstown head coach Jim Champion said. “I’ve already had two people come up to me and say that doesn’t look like a team that has one win to me, so it’s nice to see that we’re improving.”

In a game where neither team led by more than six points at any given time, South Kingstown senior Rory McEntee was able to get the go-ahead basket for the Rebels with 18.1 seconds left.

“All of our offenses are designed to go inside first and then outside, so we think that we have some pretty good inside players with Chase [Almond] and Rory, and tonight they were really clicking,” Champion said.

Trailing 62-61, junior Sean Healy found McEntee on a back door cut from the top of the key, and McEntee was able to score the hoop plus the foul.

“It was pretty big because we were down one,” McEntee said. “I wanted the ball, I thought everyone knew that I would have the ball in my hands since I am the top scorer on the team, so I knew I was getting the ball and once I got it I was going up with it.”

After the Skippers were unable to score at the other end, North Kingstown fouled Rebels’ senior Dylan Ferdinand, who made one of two free throws at the line.

The Skippers quickly inbounded the ball to junior Rob Hazard, who drove the length of the court and was fouled in the paint with 2.7 seconds remaining.

“Although he is a very good ball player, I thought he was a little off balance when he was trying to take the last shot, and we bailed him out by doing a silly reach foul,” Champion said. 

“I looked at my two assistants after and I said 'he’s going to miss it, tonight’s our night, he’s going to miss it,'" Champion added. "Nothing against him, but I think we needed some luck to change our way.”

Hazard stepped to the line having hit all four of his free throw attempts in the game, but was unable to make it a fifth straight as his shot drew back rim and bounced out.

“Unfortunately he makes those usually. He’s like a 75 percent shooter and I was happy to have him on the line,” Thomas said. “He did the right thing with eight seconds to go, he took it to the hole and got hit.”

Down two points with less than three seconds remaining, Hazard intentionally missed the second free throw, but crossed the foul line before the ball hit the rim resulting in a violation.

The Skippers had another slim chance to tie the game after McEntee was called for traveling with 0.3 seconds remaining in the game, but the North Kingstown lob towards the basket was batted away by McEntee.

“I can’t believe he even called it, but there were a lot of call I couldn’t believe,” Champion said of the traveling violation. “I never question the referee though, it’s a difficult position, and I wouldn’t want him coaching my team so I wouldn’t referee his ball game.”

The Skippers suffered the senior night loss despite some inspired play from their five seniors early on, each of whom started the game. 

“I thought we got a good lift early on from the seniors, putting them out there and they did some nice things,” Thomas said.

Seniors Cody Barner and Romil Patel, each of whom have seen limited action this season, came out shooting the ball well. Barner buried two three-pointers in the first three minutes of the game, while Patel scored all five of his points in the first five minutes of the game.

Senior Derryck Kilgore had a tough game for the Skippers, finishing with seven points after spending most of it in foul trouble, while seniors Gabe Martino and Steve Santo each played quality minutes for North Kingstown.

“I think that’s the first or second time that he’s [Kilgore] fouled out this year. It did hurt us and having him on the floor is a huge advantage for us,” Thomas said.

McEntee led the Rebels scoring attack with 20 points, junior Chase Almond chipped in with 15 points and Ferdinand finished with 14 points.

After an emotional win last Friday at home against Bishop Hendricken and a tough loss to the Rebels Monday, the Skippers will look to try and build some consistency Tuesday when they host Cranston High School East at 7 p.m.

“It’s the problem with our basketball team, it’s been a problem all year long in finding that level of consistency to play at a certain level every night,” Thomas said. 

The Rebels will host the Thunderbolts in their next game at South Kingstown High School at 7 p.m.

“We never put our head down this season and said oh, we quit, not one kid quit on this team after one victory in 15 games,” Champion said. “It just goes to show you how positive the kids have been for me, and all season they’ve done what I’ve asked of them.”

BOYS BASKETBALL

South Kingstown 64, North Kingstown 62

SOUTH KINGSTOWN (64): McEntee 8 4-10 20, Almond 6 3-3 15, ferdinand 5 1-3 14, Healy 3 1-2 8, Sampson 3 0-0 6, Minetti 0 1-3 1; totals 25 10-21 64.

NORTH KINGSTOWN (62): Hazard 7 4-6 20, E. Scott 5 4-4 20, Kilgore 2 3-4 7, Barner 2 0-0 6, Patel 2 0-0 5, Hess 2 1-2 5, M. Scott 1 0-0 3, Martino 1 0-0 2; totals 22 12-16 62.

Halftime: N 34-29. 3-pointers: S, 4 (Ferdinand 3, Healy); N, 6 (Hazard 2, Barner 2, Patel, M. Scott).  Fouled out: N, Kilgore.