Rogers Defeats Barrington 58-55; Headed to Division Championship

Barrington overcame a seven-point first-half deficit to establish a 52-48 advantage Thursday, but Rogers’ Marc Washington responded with 10 consecutive points to push the Vikings (17-3) past the Eagles and into the Division II Championship Game.

Washington netted 14 overall, including 12 second-half points, to secure the second-seeded Vikings’ date in the Finals with either the No. 4 Bulldogs of Westerly High School (14-5) or their semifinal opponent, the top-seeded North Providence Cougars (16-3).

“Kids have been competing all year long in league play for this,” said Jim Psaras, head coach of the Vikings. “This is important.”

Win or lose, the Vikings will advance, along with the Bulldogs and Cougars, to the Rhode Island State Championship Tournament, featuring the top eight teams from Division I, five more from Division II and three representatives of Division III.

“That divisional state championship still has, I think, more value, because that’s where you play all year long,” Psaras said. “You go into an open [tournament], that’s an opportunity to do something special, because it’s one champion and every level playing together. It’s fun.”

Despite 12 regular season league wins and a quarterfinal victory in Tiverton, sixth-seeded Barrington (13-7) needed to win the D-II crown to earn a coveted spot in the field of 16.

“We have, this season, won at West Warwick, at Westerly and at Tiverton,” Sullivan said. “There’s no one that’s going to tell me that we’re not one of the top five teams in Division-II.”

The Eagles’ season ended at Vincent A. Cullen Field House, on the Knight Campus of the Community College of Rhode Island in Warwick, after Benjamin Engvall’s bid for a game-tying three-pointer
from the left wing missed the mark Thursday.

“Playoff basketball: It’s one possession, it’s one shot, it’s one offensive rebound,” said Patrick Sullivan, head coach of the Eagles. “There’s a million things that we could’ve done differently. But the reality is, they played hard and losing by three, that could’ve gone any which way.”

Engvall shrugged off an injury that hampered him throughout the majority of the game to score a game-high 21 points, Connor Fiske added 12, though he too was troubled by a physical ailment and Cade Jones-Pearson chipped in 11 off the bench for Barrington. But Barrington could not conquer the Eastern Division Champions from Newport, who are now 3-0 against the Eagles this season.

Juniors Reeyon Watts led the Vikings with 16 points, and fellow juniors Trevor Morgera and Divon Bailey tacked on 12 apiece as well, but they consistently deferred to Washington down the stretch.
The sophomore scored only four points in the game’s first 30 minutes, but with his team trailing by four and less than five minutes to play, he began to pour it in, first netting a pair halving the Vikings’ deficit,then burying a three-point shot from the right side to negate what had been a three-point margin for Barrington.

After Fiske replied with another two for the Eagles, Washington converted again from beyond the arc, giving his team a one-pointedge with 56.5 seconds remaining. Rogers denied Barrington’s attempt to regain the advantage, and then the Vikings handed off once again to Washington, who dropped two more with a step-back jump-shot to provide his team with a three-point cushion.

Neither squad led by more than five points throughout the latter stanza. Though Rogers led, 18-11, during the first half, the Eagles closed the first-period gap, and trailed 29-28, at halftime. Rogers will return to CCRI’s Knight Campus for the D-II Championship Game, to be played Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

“It’ll be exciting for the kids, and an opportunity to bring a state championship home to Rogers High School, which we strive for eachand every year, but sometimes you don’t get there,” said Psaras.
“You have an opportunity now, you’ve got to take advantage of it.”