By ERIC RUEB

Contributing writer

WOOD RIVER JUNCTION - Up 14 points with 9 minutes, 47 seconds left in their game against Chariho Friday night, everything was going great for the Cumberland boys basketball team.
After a woeful start that saw them down double digits, the Clippers started playing solid basketball, cutting down turnovers, rebounding, and running a smooth offense.
And then it all fell apart.
The turnovers that plagued them early returned. The defense couldn't find a way to stop the pass-happy Chargers. The offense couldn't produce and when you add those things together, it equaled a 66-56 loss for Cumberland.
"We haven't won a lot of games in the three or four years we've been in D-I," Cumberland coach Gary Reedy said. "I don't want to say we don't know how to win, but how to hold leads is something we're still learning. Unfortunately, that's how it is."
It was a disappointing finish to what had been a great comeback sparked by solid defense and an offense that ran as smooth as Reedy could have wanted.
Down 14-4 just 3:37 into the game, Cumberland fought back to take a 23-22m lead on a pretty pass by Adrian Oliveira to Evan Patrick and from there, the Clippers continued to roll.
Up 30-26 at the half, Cumberland dominated the glass, with Patrick (14 points, 10 rebounds) doing most of the damage, and a David Elkas layup in the post with the foul made it 49-35 with 9:47 left.
And from there, it was all Chariho. After the Elkas basket, the Chargers started moving the ball quickly up court and prevented Patrick and the rest of the Clippers from getting second-chance points.
In just over two minutes, the Chargers tied the game at 49 on a beautiful touch pass from Mike Thweatt (eight assists) to Brad Borsay and they finished the game outscoring Cumberland 15-7.
"I don't think we got back on defense," Reedy said. "I tried to sub to keep the guys fresh but it was a  pretty fast-paced game."
While the lack of rebounding - something many opponents have struggled with Chariho's line of Thweatt (6-foot-2), Borsay (6-6) and Tyler Zegarzewski (6-4) - didn't help, the offense stopped running with the efficiency it had in the middle portion of the game.
"We wanted to run our stuff and they weren't running it through enough," Reedy said. "We were trying to score, but what happened was we went with too much 1-on-1. When we ran our sets, we were sharp. That's how we took the lead."
Oliveira led the Clippers with 19 points, Patrick had 14 to go along with his 10 boards and Alex Ogilvie chipped in with 11.
The Clippers will try to get back on track Tuesday when they host winless Exeter-West Greenwich at 7 p.m.
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CUMBERLAND (2-5, 0-4 Division I) 56
Alex Ogilvie 5-12 0-0 11; Adrian Oliveira 7-25 4-4 19; Evan Patrick 6-10 2-2 14; Matt Lazaras 2-6 0-0 5; Brian Bradley 1-3 2-2 4; David Elkas 1-3 1-1 3; Matt Wentzell 0-0 0-0 0; Jack Andrade 0-0 0-0 0; Dan Hecht 0-1 0-0 0; Mike Joubert 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS 22-61 9-9 56.
CHARIHO (4-2, 2-2 Division I) 66
Brock Taylor 0-1 0-0 0; Chad Lewis 0-3 0-0 0; Tyler Zegarzewski 13-24 7-9 36; Mike Thweatt 5-15 1-2 12; Brad Borsay 2-9 0-0 4; Kyle Driscoll 0-0 0-0 0; Ephraim Jacob 2-6 0-0 6; Connor Brennan 0-2 0-0 0; Josh Martin 4-9 0-0 8. TOTALS 26-69 8-11 66.
Halftime: Cumberland 30-26. 3-pointers: Cumberland 3-11 (Oliveira 1-7, Ogilvie 1-3, Lazaras 1-1); Chariho 6-18 (Zegarzewski 3-8, Jacob 2-3, Borsay 0-3, Thweatt 1-2, Brennan 0-2). Rebounds: Cumberland 30 (Patrick 10); Chariho 50 (Zegarzewski 18). Assists: Cumberland 13 (Oliveira, Lazaras 3); Chariho 19 (Thweatt 8). Turnovers: Cumberland 16 (Ogilvie 6); Chariho 21 (Thweatt 8). Steals: Cumberland 14 (Oliveira 4); Chariho 6 (Zegarzewski 3). Blocks: Cumberland 6 (Patrick 6); Chariho 10 (Zegarzewski, Borsay 5).