By RYAN D. MURRAY
The undefeated Johnston Panthers went into Pilgrim High School and pounded the Patriots 80-54 on Saturday afternoon during a Boys Division II Basketball battle.
Anthony Corsinetti, a senior, topped Johnston with 19 points, while teammate and senior Derek Salvatore chipped in 17 points.
“Anthony’s definitely one of our go-to scorers,” Panthers head coach Mike Bedrosian said. “He pours in probably like 18 or 20 at least a night. And then, obviously we have Derek coming in and doing all of the little things – scrapping on the offensive boards and getting assists. And Derek averages almost a triple-double a game.”
“Anthony is very smart when we get out in transition,” Bedrosian explained. “We like to run and when the ball gets to Derek, he always does a nice job finding Anthony up at the sideline and Anthony gets going in transition and that’s what kind of gets us going offensively.”
Branden Testa, a junior, finished third in scoring on the Panthers with 13 points, while Camani Batista, a senior, finished fourth with 11 points.
Pilgrim was led by Tyler Fuller, a senior guard, who scored 11 points, and Isaiah Price, a senior, who tallied ten points.
Pats sophomores Ian Laplume and Dylan Vale, added eight points apiece.
Johnston and Pilgrim traded baskets to start the contest with Testa making a layup for the Panthers before Fuller responded with a jump shot for the Pats.
But after that, it was all Johnston.
The Panthers closed the first frame with a 10-0 run, where Salvatore scored six points and Testa had four points, and that gave Johnston a 12-2 advantage.
Pilgrim received a layup from Vale at the beginning of the second quarter and it inched the Pats within 12-4.
Johnston, however, answered with back-to-back 3-balls, from Salvatore and Mike Carlino, and that extended the Panthers buffer to 18-4.
Salvatore sank another trey, moments later, and then Corsinetti connected on a 3-pointer of his own, and that put the Panthers up 33-10.
Johnston held a 34-14 edge at halftime.
The Pats matched the Panthers with 40 second-half points until senior Cam Vanstone, an athlete on Johnston’s unified basketball team, checked into the contest and buried a pair of 3-point shots, which helped the Panthers pull out the 80-54 win.
“He was the hometown hero on CBS,” Bedrosian said. “He’s our spark in practice. He (has) a smile that’s contagious when we’re having a bad day. It’s tough to have it when he’s in the gym. And he just shoots for two hours straight and he gets in the drills with the guys, doesn’t slow us down, and he’s shooting drills like he’s a part of the team, and he’s just a joy to have around in our program and we love him. It’s awesome.”
Johnston improved its league-record to 15-0 with the victory.
“We’re second in the state right now, so we’ve just got to keep it going,” Bedrosian said. “Get a bye in the division and hopefully we get a good seed in the open as well. I would say the ultimate goal is winning the D-II Championship. That’s been our primary goal from the beginning of the year. So, we’ve just got to try to get that first. That’s the big golden apple that we have wanted since November. And then, once we get that, then we’ll worry about the open, but right now we’re just focused on that Division II Title.”
Johnston hosted Mt. Hope on Wednesday night, but that score was unavailable at press time. The Panthers play next on Friday at St. Rays at 7 p.m.
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