The Johnston boys’ basketball team rattled off its fifth straight win last Friday night, outlasting the hot shooting from Ponaganset’s backcourt to edge the Chieftains, 66-63.
The Panthers were paced by three scorers in double figures – Ryan Yankee (19), Nas Vasquez (16) and Mike Sabitoni (14) – but Ponaganset guards Joshua Greene and Hayden Braga combined to knock down eight 3-pointers to keep their squad neck and neck with Johnston down the stretch.
Ultimately, though, Braga would miss an attempt from beyond the arc that would’ve given Ponaganset a one-point lead with 18.8 seconds remaining. The shot clanked off the front of the rim and bounced over the backboard. Johnston then calmly inbounded the ball to Vasquez, who got fouled and sank both of his free throws to put the game away.
It looked as if it was going to be Ponaganset’s night for a while – particularly after halftime. Not only did it seem like every shot from 3-point land was finding nylon, but the Chieftains were utilizing their mismatch with 6-foot-4 Domenic Parente under the hoop.
But Johnston, with a mix of transition points and quality sets in the halfcourt, was able to overcome everything that wasn’t going its way.
“We played much better defense in the second half, but you have to give credit to those guys for shooting the ball,” Johnston head coach Steve DeMeo said. “They had a size advantage inside, but our guys really dug in and we actually out-rebounded them over the last five minutes, which is a credit to our heart and soul.”
It looked as if Johnston may run away with a laugher early, with a steal and score from Vasquez with 8:40 left in the first putting the Panthers up 13, 22-9. The bucket marked an 8-0 run for the road squad, triggering a timeout call from Chieftains’ head coach Roger Forand.
After that, Ponaganset started to generate better looks on the offensive end.
A pair of 3-pointers from Greene on consecutive possessions trimmed Johnston’s lead to 29-26 with 2:29 left before the break.
Parente then hit the offensive glass in the final minute, collecting a rebound and banking a shot in off the glass to give Johnston just a 32-28 lead at halftime.
Ponaganset came out even stronger in the second half, too.
The Chieftains scored the first four points of the half to tie the game at 32, before Yankee drilled a baseline jumper to push the Panthers ahead by a deuce.
But a Braga 3 would give Ponaganset its first lead since the opening minutes, 38-36, with 12:48 to go.
Not discouraged by letting a big lead slip away, Johnston continued to knock down shots, getting key baskets from Sabitoni, Steve Cotoia, Vasquez and Yankee.
Yankee and Vasquez hit a 3-pointer each within a minute and a half of each other to stretch the lead back out to nine, 58-49, with 5:35 left, but that margin wouldn’t last long.
Greene collected an offensive rebound and converted a layup a couple of minutes later, before Braga drained his fifth 3-pointer to trim the deficit to two, 62-60.
Braga couldn’t hit his most important shot of the game with less than 20 seconds left, however, as Johnston was able to escape with the victory.
In addition to 14 points, Sabitoni collected 11 rebounds for a double-double, and Cotoia also chipped in with six points, all coming in the second half, to go along with seven rebounds.
“Nas and Ryan get all the publicity because they’re our leading scorers, but without guys like Sabitoni and Cotoia, they do all the dirty work,” DeMeo said. “People can look in the box score and see they only scored two baskets or whatever, but they do so much more for us. Sab was diving on the floor for us and came up with a big rebound at the end, and Steve does the same thing.”
Johnston will now turn its attention to one of the division’s top teams for a showdown set for Friday night.
“Losing this game would’ve been a costly loss,” DeMeo said. “Even though they’re not in our subdivision, you don’t want to get too far down with losses. We have a big game with Moses Brown on Friday night, so we didn’t want to go into that on a downward trend.”
The Panthers will be going into their semifinal rematch with the Quakers with a full head of steam. Johnston is currently in first in Division III-Central with a record of 7-1 while Moses Brown is right behind at 6-3.
That game will tip at 7 p.m. at Johnston on Friday night, as the Panthers try to widen the gap in the standings.
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