Yarce Guides Falcons to Victory Against Central

Last night was a milestone for Falcons captain Bryan Yarce, who scored his 1,000th point and led his team to their eighth straight victory.

Cranston West (18-3, 13-3 in league play) hosted the Central Knights (12-5, 11-4) last night and West led for the majority of the game, fighting off a late surge by Central, winning 76-62.

Yarce needed only two points to reach 1,000 for his career. He reached the milestone less than two minutes into the game and the game was halted to honor him. Yarce was presented with a customized basketball which had "1,000 points," his name, the date and Central vs. West written on it. 

"It was a dream come true," Yarce said, "The hard work paid off."

His strategy this game was to attack and take what the defense gave him. "I've played against them a lot, and they like to double team me," he said.

Captain Robert Lewis got the Knights out to a good start, scoring the team's first five points. About four minutes into the game Yarce scored on a fast break layup, putting West ahead 8-7.

After Central took a 11-8 lead, captain Steven Rush sank two three-balls back-to-back to give the Falcons a 14-12 lead. The Knights continued to apply pressure on West and kept the game close.

Lewis sank a jump shot cutting their deficit to 21-20. West outscored Central 11-5 over the next two minutes. Rush had five points and Yarce scored six. Rush finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds and Yarce ended up with 25 points and 12 assists.

Dayvon Heard kept the Knights in the game with two three pointers in a row, which trimmed the Falcons lead to 34-31 with just under a minute left in the half.

West took control early on in the second half with a 13-2 run, which gave them a 54-36 lead. Yarce had four points and four assists during the streak, as he was the difference in the game. Andrew Levy sank a three off a pass from Yarce during the run.

Their biggest lead would come with about six-and-a-half minutes left in the game, when Levy drained a three pointer, to up the lead to 60-42. But Central was determined to fight hard until the last whistle.

During the next 45 seconds, Robert Lewis scored seven points and all of a sudden it was a game again. But they were not able to scare the Falcons even as they came within striking distance of the lead. 

They never cut the lead to less than ten points during the last eight minutes of the game, but made West earn the victory. Some teams would fold when trailing by 18 on the road, but the Knights made a valiant comeback effort. 

Lewis scored 18 points and Heard led the Knights with 20 points. Levy chipped in 16 points for West.

"I thought we could have done a better job attacking the defense off the dribble," Knights coach Todd Keefe said. "We lost sight of Yarce coming off the screen and he did a good job kicking it to the corners, And they knocked down their shots."

"At the end of the game we attacked the gaps a little bit stronger but it was a little late," the coach added.

Jim Moretti, Falcons head coach, was pleased with the collective effort tonight.

"It was a team effort," he said. "Levy hit some big threes for us and Yarce controlled the whole game."

In the second half they applied a different defense and it worked effectively.

"We extended our zone and made them try to beat us on the inside," he said.

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