'Senior Night' Proves Special For Tiverton In 72-50 Win Over Chariho

A fitting finale.

On “Senior Night,” seven boys’ basketball players accounted for all but eight of their team’s points Wednesday in a 72-50 thumping of visiting Chariho Regional High School in a Division II crossover game and the Tigers’ last regular-season home-court appearance of the 2010-11 campaign.

Senior captains Gunnar Bjornson (21), Ben Bergandy (17) and Ken Welchman (16) all finished in double digits as Tiverton blew open a tight battle with a 25-7 burst concluding the first half and coasted the rest of the way while improving its divisional record to 13-4 and its season mark to 16-6. The Chargers dropped to 1-14 against league rivals and 2-18 overall.

Seniors Terrance Caldwell (4), Matt Correia (3), Tyler Mulcahy (2) and Adam Carreiro (1) also dented the scoring column, much to the delight of the large and partisan Tiverton crowd. Sophomore B.K. Kiser (6) and junior Geoff McNally (2) rounded out the Tigers’ point production.

“This is a wonderful group of seniors we have this year, especially our three captains, who learned how to play together during the season,” Tiverton Coach Jerry Arcouette said at game’s end. “They are very unselfish players, they hit the open man, and they make the types of passes we haven’t seen at this school in a long time.”

Wednesday night, the Tigers simply outclassed the gutsy visitors with their superior quickness, offensive output and smothering defense. After a shaky stretch midway through the opening period, Tiverton took complete control and the final score did not accurately reflect the discrepancy between the two squads.

After zooming to an early 9-1 lead, the Tigers went cold and sloppy and the Chargers countered with a 14-4 burst to assume a 15-13 edge with 8:07 left in the first half. A minute later, Chariho’s Kyle Driscoll banked in a driving layup to tie the game at 17-17 before Bjornson netted eight unanswered points – including a couple of three-point baskets – to put the hosts ahead to stay.

Tiverton later manufactured another eight-point spurt to open up a 37-19 cushion and maintained it at 42-24 at halftime.

Welchman’s trey with 14:16 go rewarded Tiverton with its first 20-point spread at 47-27 and his three-pointer with 3:58 remaining gave the Tigers their largest lead of the night at 25 points (70-45).

“I thought we started the game conservatively on defense, but we opened it up later and that paid off,” Arcouette said. “Even with all the distractions we had tonight, our players stay focused and did what they had to do.”

Josh Martin topped Chariho with 11 points and Brock Taylor finished with 8 points.

Tiverton’s seven seniors along with seven senior cheerleaders were honored with their parents in a pre-game ceremony.

The Tigers will conclude their 2010-11 regular-season schedule Friday night at vastly improved Barrington High in a critical Division II-South encounter. Tiverton will then rest for approximately a week prior to entering the Division II state playoffs.

“Hopefully, tonight was not our last home game of the year,” Arcouette said. “If we finish in the top four of Division II, we’ll get one home game in the playoffs.”

TIGER TALES: Junior forward Alex Rosa sat out Wednesday’s contest with a knee injury suffered during Monday’s triumph at Pilgrim High of Warwick. According to Arcouette, Rosa underwent medical testing Wednesday and the results have yet to be released. Rosa’s status for Friday’s game at Barrington High School is uncertain.

In addition to shooting for a high seed in the upcoming Division II playoffs, the Tigers are also gunning for a berth in this year’s All-State Tournament. The top five finishers in Division II will qualify for this event, which will also feature Division I and Division III clubs.