It may only be January, but last Friday’s Division III boys’ basketball game between Johnston and Scituate, who were both previously undefeated in league play, had the feeling of a playoff game.
The Panthers’, now 4-1, cold shooting in the second half, coupled with the hot shooting of Scituate, now 5-0, helped the Spartans to a 64-52 win, putting them at the top of the Division III standings.
Johnston was coming off of a solid 70-61 win over Chariho, while Scituate defeated Toll Gate the previous night.
Playing before a packed crowd at Scituate High School, the Panthers jumped out to an 11-3 lead thanks to three-pointers by Nassir Vasquez and Ryan Yankee.
Johnston enjoyed the lead for most of the first half and it looked as if it would have the momentum going into the break, when Jacob Dannenfelser nailed a three from the corner with seconds remaining in the first half.
However, the Spartans’ Nicholas Pietrantozzi had other ideas, as his three-point shot with one tick left on the clock gave the home team a 31-29 halftime lead, but more importantly, the momentum had shifted in favor of Scituate.
In the second half, the Spartans increased their lead to 11, 44-33, their largest of the game, as Johnston struggled to score on the offensive end.
The Panthers still managed to tie the game at 50 with buckets by Steve Cotoia, Larry Dureault and Yankee.
Scituate’s Collin Omollo’s block on Yankee’s fast break proved to be a big play in the game’s final minutes and Pietrantozzi would hit another three to put the Spartans up, 61-52, with 1:24 left in the game.
“We made a lot of mistakes that we ordinarily do not make and that was attributed to Scituate’s defense,” said Johnston head coach Steve DeMeo. “Whenever we play Scituate, it is always a great game and we had our shots in the second half, but we did not shoot that well. I thought our defense was very good in the first half, except for the last two minutes, but we missed some assignments and lay-ups. We started off a little slow in the second half, and if you are not hot, you are not going to win.”
DeMeo went on to say, “Some of the calls did not go our way and the kids started getting into that, we just have to play the game and work hard.”
The Spartans’ Brian Heston was the game’s leading scorer with 19 points, connecting on five shots from 3-point range, as Scituate knocked down 11 three-pointers as a team.
Pietrantozzi added 16 points in the win.
Yankee was the Panthers’ high-scorer with a team-high 18 points, with all of them coming from three-point land.
Yankee shook off a shoulder injury in the first half of play to turn in a solid performance.
“This is a tough atmosphere to play in,” DeMeo said. “Division III is a very competitive league and we’ll look to play better in our next game. We’ll watch the film and see what we did wrong.”
The Panthers hosted Masters Regional Academy on Monday night and continued to struggle, losing 64-47. Yankee was once again Johnston’s leading scorer with a team-high 19 points in the loss.
Johnston is now 4-2 in Division III-Central, after losing two-straight league games for the first time this season.
Johnston was also at Mount St. Charles on Wednesday night, but results were unavailable at press time.
The Panthers will be off this weekend and will be back in action next Tuesday at Burrillville.
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