Tigers Stun Again, Knock Out Hendricken 88-78

“Hoosiers” is alive and well on the East Bay.

The boys’ basketball team frittered away a 24-point second-half lead Tuesday night at the Providence Career Technical Academy, lost its two top players on fouls, yet regrouped in the final minute of play to dramatically shock Bishop Hendricken High School, of Warwick, 88-78 in the quarterfinal round of the Credit Union State Boys’ Basketball Championship.

Senior point guard Kenny Welchman scored 10 of his game-high 26 points in the closing 1:25 – including a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Junior swingman Alex Rosa tallied the go-ahead basket with 64 ticks remaining as the No. 11 Tigers (19-7) manufactured their second improbable victory over a Division I opponent in four days with a 14-4 blitz in the last minute of play to oust the No. 3 Hawks (16-9) and officially ended Hendricken’s seven-year reign as Ocean State kingpins.

The Hawks had snared seven successive Division I state crowns heading into this season, but were eliminated in the semifinal round of the Division I playoffs last month, leaving the State Championship as their lone opportunity to extend the title streak.

Rosa finished with 16 points, Gunnar Bjornson netted 19 points prior to exiting on fouls with 7:46 to play, Ben Bergandy added 10 points before likewise fouling out with 7:59 remaining, and B.K. Kiser contributed 11 points to Tiverton’s cause. Tim Lyons (21 points), Steven Bevilacqua (15 points) and Lee Messier (14 points) all concluded in double digits for Hendricken.

Tiverton now moves on to the “Final Four” of Rhode Island scholastic basketball and will trek to the Ryan Center on the campus of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston on Friday night at 8 to face No. 2 Central High of Providence. The Knights (18-7) outlasted No. 7 North Kingstown High, 81-74, in overtime in Tuesday’s opener at the PCTA.

In the other semifinal-round clash Friday at 6 at URI, No. 5 St. Raphael Academy, of Pawtucket, will battle No. 9 North Providence High School.

Senior Terrance Caldwell capped Tiverton’s performance Tuesday with an uncontested lay-up at the buzzer which triggered a roar so loud it may have been heard all the way to the East Bay, and sent dozens of ecstatic Tiger supporters on the PCTA court to celebrate with team members.

“I can’t say enough about our role players and how they stepped up tonight,” an emotionally drained Tiverton Coach Jerry Arcouette said in the midst of the post-game celebration. “Kenny has been kind of like the silent No. 3 member of our three senior captains this season, but he certainly made a statement tonight. He played a tremendous game.”

Physically spent at game’s end, Welchman still found time to praise his teammates.

“I knew we had to stick it out at the end, keep the defense together and hope our bench players would come up big for us,” Welchman said. “And they did.”

And how. After the Tigers stretched a 42-27 halftime lead to 54-30 with 11:26 left on a 9-0 run, things started to go awry. Buoyed by fresh legs and a consistent ability to draw personal fouls, Hendricken clawed back as Tiverton became unglued offensively and was ravaged on the defensive boards by the tall and physical Hawks.

With Bjornson and Bergandy both watching from the sidelines in frustration, the Hawks scored 42 points in the next nine minutes-plus and finally drew even at 72-72 with 2:03 to play on a Messier tip-in. Welchman countered with an off-balance jumper from the foul line to put Tiverton back in front at 74-72 at the 1:25 mark, but Lyons swished two free throws nine seconds later to forge a 74-74 draw.

After Rosa sank his lay-in at the 1:04 mark, Welchman converted eight successive free throws in the hectic final minute, Kiser drained a pair of charity tosses and Caldwell beat the buzzer with a bank shot to climax the Tigers’ triumph.

Despite making some dubious offensive decisions in the last eight minutes with Bjornson and Bergandy out of commission, Welchman still produced 15 points in that critical stretch. Kyle Vasconcelos came off the bench to bottom two huge buckets and Kiser added three more fouls shots in that span.

“I was a little nervous shooting free throws late in the game, but we spend a lot of time shooting them in practice,” said Welchman. “I knew it was clutch time and I needed to hit them.”

For most of the night, it appeared that no last-minute heroics would be needed by Tiverton, which erased a 17-16 deficit midway through the first half with a 24-4 explosion (including a Bergandy slam dunk) which resulted in a 40-21 bulge with 2:04 left and ultimately in the 15-point spread at halftime. Bjornson (12), Rosa (10) and Bergandy (8) did most of the damage in the opening period, while Welchman and Kiser totaled 6 points apiece, and the Tigers frustrated the Hawks with their multiple defenses that forced numerous turnovers and poor shots.

Hendricken increased its defensive intensity at the start of the second half, but it largely resulted in a slew of personal fouls, as the Hawks reached the one-and-one limit with 12:45 left and the bonus situation just 79 seconds later. Welchman’s three-pointer from the top of the key and Costa’s fast-break lay-in were sandwiched around seven Tiger free throws, the last of which gave them a seemingly commanding 54-30 lead.

Fresh off a solid 64-52 win Saturday against No. 6 and Division I LaSalle Academy of Providence, Arcouette declined to concede that Tuesday’s victory was the most significant in the annals of the Tiger program.

“We’ve won some state championships (by either class or division) in the past, so I can’t say that this is the greatest win in school history,” he said. “But it certainly ranks right up there with them.”

In other words, “Hoosiers” is still alive in Tiverton.