Sports
Prout Bucks Burrillville Broncos
The Prout Crusaders recover from their mid-winter malaise in time to tame the Burrillville Broncos during a divisional cross-over contest waged Wednesday night in Wakefield.
WAKEFIELD – It was a tale of two halves for Wednesday night's varsity boys basketball game between the hosting Prout Crusaders and the visiting Broncos of Burrillville.
Prout played during the first half in a manner reminiscent of their .
However, in the final 16 minutes it was as though a switch had been turned on at the Prout gym, as the Crusaders returned to their winning ways, rallying from a five-point halftime deficit to defeat Burrrillville 67-55.
Find out what's happening in Narragansett-South Kingstownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The win improves the Prout record to 15-6 overall and 12-4 in Division III. The victory over Burrillville was also the Crusaders' ninth home win of the season.
A trio of seniors led the Prout effort during the second half comeback. Co-captain John King was game high-scorer with 23 points, while fellow co-captain Ben Thompson was close behind with 19. Sixth man Jeff Lamendola came in off the bench to contribute 12 points, 10 of which came in the second half.
Find out what's happening in Narragansett-South Kingstownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
For the visiting team, co-captain Andrew Gongoleski had a double-double performance for the Broncos, with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Brendan Darigan, who only recently joined the team after having recovered from a football injury incurred on Thanksgiving Day, had a near double-double with 11 points and 9 steals. Burrillville co-captain Zach Smith chipped in 10 points to go along with his 5 assists and 2 steals.
A Long Three Days to End the Broncos' Season
The game against Prout was the second of three consecutive divisional games that the Burrillville Broncos played this week.
Tuesday, Burrillville went on the road to meet Division III powerhouse Johnston, losing 76-48 to Big Issac Medeiros and his Panther buddies.
Wednesday, the Broncos traveled to Wakefield where they lost to the Prout Crusaders, 67-55, despite leading at the half by five points.
Last night, Thursday, they had their third game in three days when they hosted Moses Brown. Burrillville won that one, 44-40, to end the regular season with a 7-11 record.
The three games in the three days was necessitated by snow cancellations earlier in the season. The Prout-Burrillville game had been originally scheduled for Jan. 26.
Prout Heads Back on the Road
Next up for the Prout Crusaders is a road game tonight at Mt. Hope, the regional school district that covers the towns of Bristol and Warren.
Prout, 4-4 in Division III road games so far this season, will be playing to maintain its position as the number four team in Division III, trailing behind Johnston, Juanita Sanchez and East Greenwich.
East Greenwich locked up the three spot in Division III last night when the Avengers handed Johnston its first Division III loss of the season, 63-49.
Get Used to Seeing the Huskies
The next two games for Prout, which are also the last two regular season games for both teams, are a road-and-home series with the Mt. Hope Huskies.
The Huskies have returned to Division III for the 2010-11 season, after struggling in Division II for the past four years.
Basketball was not always a struggle for the boys from Bristol-Warren. Back in 2003, Mt. Hope actually won the Division II state crown, finishing that year with a 17-1 league record.
Then in 2004, still playing in Division-II, they went 3-17.
In 2005, they decided to move to Division III for a couple of years. However, they did not do much better in D-III play. The Mt. Hope combined record for 2005 and 2006 was 8-28.
In 2007, the Huskies moved back to Division II. Their combined record in Division II for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 was 12-56, for an average record of 3-14. Last year, they had a 5-13 D-II record.
So far this season playing in Division-III, the Huskies are 6-10 in league play.
But don't let the record fool you. Tuesday, its last time out, Mt. Hope upset East Greenwich (who admittedly was playing without the Avengers' leading scorer Sam Messier), 40-34.
That 6-10 record places Mt. Hope squarely on the Division III tournament bubble, so these last two games are vitally important to the Huskies' tournament aspirations. Also, Friday night is Senior Night for Mt. Hope, so the Huskies will have a double dose of emotion when they take the floor Friday against Prout.
The Huskies this season are a relatively young team. They are also a short team with only two "big" men, Pat Guthlein and Josh Pacheco. Although lacking size, they are nevertheless a good rebounding team.
Tip off Friday is 7 p.m. in Bristol.
Wednesday Night's Box Score
1
2
Total
Burrillville
31
24
55
The Prout School
26
41
67
_
Player Stats
Prout School
Pts
FGM
3PM
FTM
FTA
John King
23
9
3
2
2
Ben Thompson
19
9
0
1
4
Jeff Lamendola
12
3
0
6
6
Justin Bristol
5
1
0
3
3
Eric Rameika
4
2
0
0
0
Holden Bussey
2
0
0
2
2
Dave Antonelli
2
1
0
0
0
Christian Tiexiera
0
0
0
0
2
Connor Panciera
0
0
0
0
2
TOTAL
67
25
3
14
21
Burrillville
Pts
FGM
3PM
FTM
FTA
Andrew Gongoleski
17
7
1
2
7
Brendan Darigan
11
3
2
3
6
Zach Smith
10
2
1
5
11
Ben Girard
6
2
2
0
0
Vincent O'Rourke IV
5
1
1
2
2
Daniel Diaz
3
1
1
0
0
Henry Girard
3
1
1
0
0
TOTAL
55
17
9
12
26
___
