The Johnston Panthers unified basketball squad was handled by the Rhode Island School for the Deaf Roosters 42-27 last Wednesday during their showcase game in Johnston.
Despite the loss, Panthers head coach Amanda Areson felt her squad performed well in front of a large crowd.
“I think under the pressure of having the whole school here and the faculty, they didn’t let it get to them and they really worked as a team,” Areson said. “And they just had fun and that’s the main goal.”
RISD’s Arthur Rosario and Johnston’s Kaylee Vanstone led their respective teams with ten points each. Eymi Cabrera added eight points for the Panthers.
“They’ve been practicing very hard,” Areson said of both Vanstone and Cabrera. “They’re practicing their form and they’re just really working hard in practice.”
Thirty seconds in, Rosario began the scoring with a put back and gave RISD a 2-0 lead.
Johnston knotted the game at 2 when Cabrera buried a shot from the baseline.
Then, the Panthers got a deep 3-pointer from Collin Sooner, and went up 5-4.
However, RISD’s Rosario took back the lead with a bucket, and they never trailed again.
The Roosters went on an 8-0 run and took a 12-5 edge with nine minutes to play.
The Panthers put an end to the spurt when Vanstone scored two consecutive baskets and cut the deficit to four.
But then, RISD’s Mamjo and Jaime Peets scored back-to-back buckets and the Roosters went up 16-9 with 6:51 left in the half.
The score hung around that margin for the remainder of the half until RISD’s Nandes Ramos sank a runner just before the buzzer and gave RISD a 26-17 advantage heading into halftime.
The Roosters began the second half with back-to-back buckets from Hurteau and Daury Almonte and that put RISD up by 13.
Johnston got its first bucket of the second frame with 10:49 remaining when Mario Pi dished inside to Vanstone for a jump shot, which pulled the Panthers within 30-19.
Nonetheless, RISD answered that with four straight buckets while taking a commanding 38-19 advantage with 6:12 left.
With 3:41 remaining, Johnston earned three straight buckets, one from Daniel Shepard, and two from Cabrera, and cut the deficit to 13, but that’s as close as they would get.
Though, they came up a bit short, the Panthers offense was well-balanced with Kasem Sasa at the point guard position.
“He’s a very good partner to them,” Areson said. “He makes sure that everybody on the court gets an equal amount of shots and when he rebounds, he gives it to different athletes on the court. So, he’s one of the partners that really helps us out a lot.”
Johnston also fell 38-30 to the Sentinels on Tuesday, March 19th during another day game at Smithfield High School.
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