Breton, Panthers take down Northmen in overtime

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Johnston senior Mark Breton stepped to the free-throw line with 1.1 seconds left in Tuesday’s boys’ basketball game against North Smithfield. His team, down six points with 27 seconds left, had gotten within two but needed Breton to finish the job.

He was ready and willing.

In the team’s season opener against Cumberland last month, Breton was in a similar situation. With a chance to tie the game, he made the first free throw but missed the second and the Panthers lost by a point.

This time, Breton sank both, forced overtime and helped the Panthers dominate the extra period en route to a stunning 67-61 victory over the Northmen, who are the defending Division III champions. In the final 27 seconds and the four-minute overtime, Johnston out-scored North Smithfield 18-6.

“We’ve been playing hard lately and we haven’t been finishing out games,” Breton said. “In practice, we emphasized finishing out the game, playing hard, sticking with it. We had some lapses early on, but down the stretch, we really came together as a unit. Our guys came to play.”

Both teams are now 2-2 in league play.

The Panthers shot 20 percent from the field in the first half and trailed by 11. They rallied in the second half, but saw the Northmen pull away in the final two minutes with a 9-2 run. Two free throws by Peter Keenan gave the Northmen a 55-49 lead with 27 seconds to go.

But the Panthers had scratched and clawed all night – and they weren’t going to stop.

Ryan McKeon buried a three-pointer with 19 seconds left to make things interesting. The Panthers sent the Northmen to the line a second later and Jeremy Dobson missed the front end of the one-and-one. To make matters worse for the Northmen, Collin Byrne was whistled for a foul on the rebound.

That put Johnston’s Zach Coro on the line, where he hit the first free throw to make it a two-point game. He missed the second, but a scramble for the rebound resulted in the ball going out of bounds off the Northmen.

After two near steals, the Panthers finally got the ball inbounds with 11 seconds left. Ryan Yankee missed a three-point attempt from the wing, but Breton grabbed the rebound and was fouled just before the buzzer.

As he toed the line, he couldn’t help but think about the Cumberland game. Then he made the first free throw.

“I thought about it before the first free throw, but once I made that one, everything just flowed,” Breton said. “After I made the first one, I knew instantly I was going to make the second one. I’ve been working hard on my free throws. I just knew I had to get it for my team.”

Even after a North Smithfield timeout gave him time to think about it, Breton drilled the second free throw to tie the game. North Smithfield couldn’t get a shot off in the final 1.1, and the game went to overtime.

“Mark was humongous,” head coach Steve DeMeo said. “I’m glad for him. Cumberland at the beginning of the year, he was in the same spot, he only made one and we lost by a point. I told him, ‘You’re good enough to be in that situation.’ That’s what he should take from this.”

Once the Panthers got to overtime, they surged. McKeon stole the ball on North Smithfield’s first possession and was fouled on the break. He made both free throws to give Johnston the 57-55 lead, its first since the 2:19 mark. After two free throws by the Northmen, Larry Dureault buried a corner three. The Northmen then came up empty on their next trip, and Breton hit a step-back three from the right wing, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Just like that, Johnston led by six – and North Smithfield would never get closer than that. The Panthers went up by seven on a Coro free throw, forced a turnover and then went up by nine on two free throws from Breton. Another turnover allowed Johnston to bleed the clock under 30 seconds, and they held on from there.

“This group is just so persistent,” DeMeo said. “It’s really a joy to come to practice. They’re like little pit bulls. They fight.”

Breton scored 25 to lead the charge, while McKeon chipped in 15. Dureault added 10 and Coro had eight points.

That quartet also led a tremendous defensive effort. The Northmen committed 23 turnovers – 17 in the second half and overtime.

“I wouldn’t say we’re the greatest offensively, but we really pride ourselves on defense,” Breton said. “Every day, we work hard on defense.”

Defense also paved the way for the Panthers to get back in the game initially. Trailing by 11 at the break, they held the Northmen scoreless for nearly six minutes to start the second half, which set the stage for a 14-0 run. Dureault, Breton and Coro all hit three-pointers in the run.

“We were down 11, but we came out and held them scoreless for a few minutes,” DeMeo said. “It seemed like they were getting frustrated a little bit. We were much more aggressive with our defense in the second half.”

Coro helped spark the defensive effort from his spot at the back of Johnston’s 1-3-1 zone. He also stuffed the stat sheet with rebounds and assists.

“I thought Zach Coro was just lights-out, offensively but defensively, too,” DeMeo said. “He’s just so big for us. He rebounds, he forces turnovers, he handles the ball. He had a great game.”

The win stopped a two-game losing skid for the Panthers, who were coming off a 24-point loss to Burrillville on Friday.

“I feel so much better because we just got our butts handed to us up in Burrillville,” DeMeo said. “All the credit to them. They just blew us away. I was worried about how we were going to react, coming into this game with the defending champs coming in. But we had a couple of good days of practice and the kids were ready to play.”

The Panthers are one of seven teams in Division III with a 2-2 league record. They’ll be back to action Saturday with a 6 p.m. game at Ponaganset and they’ll visit Mount St. Charles on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“Hopefully, we’ll get some momentum from this,” DeMeo said.

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