By RYAN D. MURRAY The Patriots were pummeled 58-39 on Saturday by the Johnston Panthers during a Boys Division II Basketball battle at Pilgrim. Johnston junior Anthony Corsinetti topped all scorers with 17 points while his teammate junior Derek Salvatore finished second overall in scoring with 14 points, and senior Hunter Remington third on Johnston with 11 points. “It wasn’t for a lack of effort, it wasn’t for a lack of energy, we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket, despite a lot of easy shots,” Pilgrim head coach Sean Henseler said. “They had two very good basketball players that played very well. So, at the end of the day, it was really about execution. This was a hard fought basketball game. We had it down to five in the third quarter, and then they ran off 13 in a row and that was pretty much it.” Stephen Soulliere, a senior, led Pilgrim with 13 points, while DJ Sollitto, also a senior, netted 10 points and senior Daniel Halliwell, seven points. Corsinetti came out of the gate and scored with an old-fashioned 3-point play. The Pats tied the score at 3 when Sollitto sank a 3-point shot. Cam Walker responded with a 3 of his own and put Johnston on top 6-3. Mason Link answered with a 3-ball for Pilgrim, and again the score was deadlocked, this time at 6. Remington put the Panthers up 8-6 when he made a layup, but Pilgrim would draw its first lead at 9-8 after Sollitto sank a 3-ball from the top of the arc. The Panthers took the lead back at 10-9, midway through the first frame, when CJ Ragosta drove through the paint and made a layup. Brandon Whitman answered with a driving bucket for Pilgrim before Johnston’s Salvatore sank a free throw and evened the score at 11. With 2:32 remaining in the quarter, Salvatore buried a 3-ball and put the Panthers up three. After that, Remington made a couple of layups and extended the Johnston margin to 18-11. Salvatore closed the period with a trey and gave the Panthers a 21-12 advantage. Corsinetti started the second frame with a layup in transition, which expanded the Johnston lead to 23-12. Pilgrim got the deficit down to four at 23-19 when Halliwell and Mark Woods scored a basket each, and Sollitto, a layup, plus a free throw. Walker put a halt to that spurt when he scored with a putback after an assist from Corsinetti. Then, Salvatore closed the half with a 3-ball and it gave the Panthers a 28-21 cushion as the teams headed for halftime. Salvatore opened the third quarter with a transition layup and upped the Johnston lead to 30-21. Shortly after, Ragosta added a 3-ball, which extended the Panthers buffer to 10, at 33-23. The Pats were able to cut their deficit down to five at 35-30 midway through the third when Halliwell and Sollitto each scored a bucket, but after that, the Johnston shooters began to heat up. Remington sank a 3-point basket, before him and Neari Vasquez each made steals and dished ahead to Corsinetti for two easy layups. Next, Corsinetti concluded the third period, by burying back-to-back treys and ballooned the Johnston buffer to 48-30. In a close and low-scoring fourth frame, Johnston outscored Pilgrim 10-9 on their way to the 58-39 victory. Henseler was just happy his team kept on battling. “The good thing is we didn’t quit,” Henseler said. Despite the defeat, the Pats head to the playoffs where they hope to have better success. Pilgrim played another game later that day at Bishop Feehan, a non-league affair, which they fell by a final score of 76-51. “We actually have another game this afternoon,” Henseler said prior to that contest. “So, that’s why some of the guys you see here, I normally would have put in, they’re going to play this afternoon.” Then, Pilgrim played its last game of the regular season on Tuesday. “We’ve got a home game Tuesday night against Rogers, our senior night, and hopefully we can get a little momentum going into the playoffs,” Henseler said. “It’s a big accomplishment for this group to make the playoffs. So, that’s why we’re looking forward to it. We’re not going to look behind us.” The Pats dropped that game to Rogers 70-54 and finished the season with a league record of 7-11.