Falcons Upset by a Stunning Shot

It was a matchup between the division champions. North Providence High School, Division II champions, matched up against Cranston West, the Division I champions. Both teams came into tonight riding a 14-game winning streak. The Cougars led for a majority of the game and withstood a late rally by the Falcons, pulling off the 70-69 upset victory.

After North Providence scored the first four points of the game, Falcons senior Bryan Yarce scored four in a row to tie things up. Cougars junior Michael Ferrante answered with a three-pointer and a layup on the next two possessions.

North Providence crashed the offensive glass all night, giving them second chance scoring opportunities. Sophomore Jacob DiDomenico grabbed an offensive rebound and put it up and in, giving the Cougars a 13-8 lead.

 “We gave them too many second chance shots,” Falcons coach Jim Moretti said. “They were beating us to every loose ball in the first half.”

The game was highly competitive from start to finish, as the biggest lead of the game was only six points. Yarce showed his leadership, bringing his team to within three points at 19-16 with a three-point play.

DiDomenico’s drive and bucket pushed the Cougars lead to 26-21. West responded with a 7-1 run, capped off by co-captain Andrew Levy’s baseline three pointer, giving them their first lead of the game at 28-27 with just under seven minutes left in the first half. Levy drilled four three pointers in the first half and finished with a game high 24 points.

After Yarce’s transition bucket the game was tied at 32. The Cougars scored six points in a row capped off by junior Dillon McCluskie’s three pointer. He played a role in the biggest play of the game.

The Falcons closed the half with an 8-1 spurt during the final minute and a half to take a 40-39 lead heading into the break. A trio of captains led the surge with Levy hitting a three, Yarce completing another three point play, and Jeff Diehl’s buzzer beating jumper.

Diehl completed a 6-0 run towards the beginning of the second half with a jumper, which extended West’s lead to 46-41. Yarce’s three point play gave them their biggest lead of the game at 49-43.

However, the Cougars refused to go home without a fight and responded with a 7-0 run to reclaim the lead. Ferrante sank a three pointer to end the run and he finished with 22 points.

After four consecutive points by the Falcons, North Providence went on another 7-0 run to extend their lead to 57-53.

Another co-captain, Steven Rush converted a layup cutting West’s deficit to 62-59. Following the basket, Andrew Levy received a technical foul and Cougars junior Austin Van Bemmelen made the two freebies.

A crucial play in the game was when Yarce took a charge on Ferrante, which ended up being his fifth foul. The Cougars would have to maintain their lead without their leading scorer for the final three minutes.

In many people’s eyes, this was a make-up call for the technical foul called against Levy. The game had plenty of controversy because two of the referees are from North Providence.

The head coaches had completely different views on the impact the officials had.

“They got three points given to them,” Moretti said, “They gave kid an extra free throw, on a lane violation, and then he calls a technical foul, that’s two more free throws.”

“Five straight calls went against us,” Cougars coach Paul Rizzo said, “There was an obvious make up call on one of them [referring to Ferrante’s fifth foul].”

Directly following the foul on Ferrante, Yarce converted a reverse layup, which cut the Falcons deficit to 65-62.

The next possession provided some more controversy. After a Cougars player released a shot, the ball bounced up and hit the shot clock. When this happens, it is considered out of bounds and the team on defense gains possession.

Play was allowed to continue and the ball deflected off a Falcons player. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Cougars captain Domenick Coro made a layup. The lead was five points with just under two minutes left in the game.

West had completed an improbable comeback eight days ago in the Division I championship game. Did they have another one in store and could their magical season continue?

Yarce dished it to Diehl who hit a baseline three pointer with :58.8 seconds left on the clock. The game was tied at 67 and the momentum belonged to West.

After one free throw by Coro, Yarce drove and converted the floater in the lane with just under thirty seconds left in the game pushing West ahead 69-68. He finished with 23 points.

The Falcons played solid defense and forced a miss, and Levy was fouled. He headed to the free throw line with an opportunity to ice the game. He missed the front end of the 1 and 1 and the Cougars grabbed the rebound.

McCluskie made an incredible pass in transition to Van Bemmelen who converted a layup with only five seconds remaining on the clock. Van Bemmelen finished the contest with 16 points, none bigger than those two. The Cougars led the game 70-69 but there was time left for West to get off one final shot.

 “Kid made a great play, to get that pass off and then make that shot,” Moretti said.

Rizzo commented on the big play, “McCluskie threaded that pass to Austin, a great pass and hit Austin in stride.”

Yarce took the ball the length of the court and got off a last second shot but it bounced off the backboard and the Falcons season was over.

Van Bemmelen admitted he was nervous on that final shot by Yarce.

“I was so scared, I thought it was going in,” he said.

“He gave me an incredible bounce pass, the best pass all year,” he said about McCluskie’s pass. He added, “We have been doing an outlet drill every single practice.”

Rizzo said, “Dillon McCluskie did a great job in the second half on Yarce. It was a total team effort.”

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