Sports
Tiverton Rebounds With Solid Win Over Pilgrim
Four players score in double digits - led by B.K. Kiser with 14 points - as the Tiverton High School boys' basketball team bounces back from a loss three days earlier to easily dispose of Pilgrim High School.
Taking care of business.
The boys’ basketball team handily won a game it should have won handily Monday night, finishing with four players in double figures while outclassing host Pilgrim High School of Warwick, 68-47, in a Division II-East contest in front of a sparse and listless crowd.
B.K. Kiser netted 14 points, Ben Bergandy and Gunnar Bjornson totaled 13 points apiece, and Alex Rosa tossed in 11 points as the Tigers efficiently bounced back from a disappointing loss last Friday to Rogers High School to lead from start to finish while vanquishing the last-place Patriots. Tiverton improved to 12-4 in divisional action and 15-6 on the year, while Pilgrim dropped to 3-11 against league rivals and 5-13 overall.
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The Tigers sputtered offensively on occasion, but kicked it up a notch defensively with a variety of pressure and trapping defenses which rattled Pilgrim and created easy scoring opportunities, much to the delight of Coach Jerry Arcouette.
“We feed off our defense,” Arcouette said. “When we’re playing good defense, our offense is simple. Some nights we’re better than others. Tonight, we were good.”
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Especially during a span of nearly 12 minutes in the middle of the game when Tiverton turned a nail-biter into a blowout. After a Nick Light jumper and a three-pointer basket from Emmanuel Cavallini (12 points), the Patriots trailed by just a 23-22 margin with 3:35 left in the first half. Pilgrim, however, did not score again in the period and the Tigers ran off 11 unanswered points to take a 34-22 lead into the break.
Tiverton quickly stretched its lead to 16 points (40-24) early in the second half until successive hoops by Luis Pimental and Cavallini reduced the gap to 40-28 with 12:07 remaining. The Tigers then blanked Pilgrim until the 7:42 mark, producing 12 successive points to take a commanding 52-28 edge, and the hosts came no closer than 19 points the rest of the way.
Tiverton’s lead peaked at 28 points (62-34) with 4:17 to go when Tyler Mulcahy drained a trey from the left corner.
“Defensively, we rotated well tonight and got out on Pilgrim’s shooters,” Arcouette said. “We’re getting ready for the playoffs and we’re trying to up the intensity so that we’re ready to go when it rolls around.”
Pilgrim played a box-and-one defense on Bjornson for most of the game and while it kept his point total down, it also created high-percentage scoring chances for Kiser, Bergandy, Rosa and Ken Welchman (9 points and another solid floor performance).
“We see a lot of box-and-one defenses on Gunnar,” Arcouette said. “We’re ready when they come.”
After Welchman bottomed a three-pointer from the right wing, Tiverton held a 13-3 lead with 12:30 left in the first half and still held a nine-point edge at 17-8 when Pilgrim generated eight straight points to slice its disadvantage to 17-16. The Tigers opened a six-point cushion at 23-17 when the Pats countered with a five-point burst to again draw to a single digit before Tiverton’s defense clamped down and gained control of the contest.
The Tigers return to action Wednesday night at home against Chariho Regional High School of Wood River Junction in a Division II crossover tussle. The game will mark Tiverton’s final home appearance of the 2010-11 regular season.
(A correction has been made to this article to correct the spelling of Alex Rosa's name. Patch apologizes for the errors.)
