Newport
Earlier this season, Desilets made two free throws in the closing seconds to pull out a win at Con-Val. On Tuesday night in Newport, with the score tied at 44, Desilets hit a jumper with 1:03 to play and followed that with two free throws with 11.3 seconds to go as Stevens hung on for 50-47 win over Newport in at Wheeler Gym.
“I work on my free-throw shooting all the time in the gym,” Desilets said. “I feel pretty confident in those situations.”
Added Stevens coach Matt Baird-Torney: “We were fortunate to have Joe on the line at the time,”
It was the second nailbiter between the teams, with Stevens rallying for a 56-51 win on Dec. 18 in Claremont.
Stevens’ Drew Grenier finished with a game-high 16 points, while teammate Tanner Durkee added 12.
Ethan Houde had 15 points for Newport, including two deep 3-pointers, one with less than 2 seconds to play, to cut the Stevens lead to 48-47.
Two critical parts of the game were costly to the Tigers. They had four more field goals than the Cardinals, but were just 4-for-12 from the foul line, while Stevens was 15-of-22. Newport also turned the ball over three times in the last three minutes.
“It’s about learning how to win,” said new Newport coach Ethan Jean, who was recently elevated from the junior varsity position to head coach. Greg Pickering, who coached the Tigers the past two seasons, was relieved from his duties following an incident in a game two weeks ago at Fall Mountain. Assistant coach Ron Purmont also drew a four-game suspension following that game.
The game was a knee-knocker until Newport looked like it was getting some breathing room when it grabbed a 40-34 lead with 6:23 to play.
“That six-point lead at that part of the game looked pretty tough,” Baird-Torney said.
But Damon Roy, who had just one field goal in the game, dropped in a big 3-pointer to cut the lead 40-37. The game stayed tight with Stevens never leading until Desilets hit his jumper and followed that with his two free throws.
The defense was tough at both ends, particularly underneath. “Yeah, it really was,” said Stevens forward Luke Come, who along with center Durkee, each grabbed 10 caroms.
“Still, I think we out rebounded them,” Come added.
Added Baird-Torney: “They really attacked our 3-2 zone.”
While the loss did not make Jean very happy, he thought his Tigers battled, especially on defense.
“We’ve got some athletes here,” Jean said. “We can go eight deep, and we have a lot of the season left.”
It was just the sixth league game of season for the Tigers (2-4). Stevens is 5-6.
There was a spell in the second quarter when it looked like the Tigers were going to make a run after taking an 18-13 lead. But a missed front end of a one-and-one didn’t help, and Stevens chipped away to trail just 23-21 at the break.
The lead changed hands six times in the third quarter before Stevens got five late points from Grenier to push the Cardinals ahead, 34-33, heading into the final eight minutes.