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By BRENDAN MCGAIR Sports writer WOONSOCKET – Thursday night was designated Senior Night, meaning Brett Coderre, Mike Akinrola, Tim Harmon and Prince Artey were down to their final opportunity to strut their stuff in front of the Woonsocket fans who have supported them this winter.
Thursday was also the last hurrah in terms of the Villa Novans playing on their turf. Even though there’s a week left in the regular season, Woonsocket is assured of finishing no worse than with one of the four best records in Division I.
Translation: No need to play a home game in the opening round. Just pass go and head straight to CCRI-Warwick.
Though the night belonged to the Novans seniors, junior Antjuan Jones hogged the spotlight. The sleek guard finished with a game-high 26 points as Woonsocket chased St. Raphael, 63-51.
The boatload of the damage Jones caused came in the second half, a half in which Woonsocket (14-2 D-I North) broke a 30-all score thank to a 17-zip blitzing that left SRA dazed. Senior Jeff Holmes led the Saints, who saw their two-game league winning streak halted, with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
No doubt Jones, who scored 16 points in half No. 2, was the straw that stirred Woonsocket’s attack on this night, but coach Kyle Ivey-Jones didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“I’ve come to expect that from ‘Tone. Everybody out there in Division I knows he is a scorer,” said Ivey-Jones.
With not much at stake, Ivey-Jones plans to give some players who have been nicked up of late the chance to heal up while making sure not to lose sight of the bigger picture.
“We don’t have too much to play for. Everyone’s goal is to get to the finals, and to do that, we have to take care of business,” said Ivey-Jones. “Is has been [difficult practicing with all the injuries], but as a coach you have to figure out practice in different ways. There hasn’t been too much scrimmaging going on lately, just shooting drills and a lot of walk-throughs.”
Like Woonsocket, St. Raphael has felt the sting of the injury bug lately. Thursday, however, head coach Tom Sorrentine welcomed back two starters in Mike Holland (ankle) and Justin Maneca (back).
Neither Holland nor Maneca started, but both ended up receiving plenty of minutes. Maneca, SRA’s top long-distance threat, finished with nine points, all coming on treys.
“We’re trying to mix them back in; neither have played in a while,” said Sorrentine. “Maneca’s our best shooter and Holland does a good job running the offense.”
Despite nine turnovers, SRA dictated the tempo in the first half with a slow pace, resulting in a 24-22 lead at halftime. Maneca swished consecutive 3-ball inside the final 90 seconds and SRA came up with two defensive stands to preserve the slim edge. Woonsocket shot just 8-of-26 the first 16 minutes.
“We had the game right where we wanted,” said Sorrentine. “It was playing slow and at our pace.”
“It played into their hands a bit, echoed Ivey-Jones.
Then came the second half, which was a completely different story. The Novans scored the first eight points, six resulting on 3-pointers from Lee Vasquez (seven points) and Coderre (nine points).
SRA fought back to tie game at 30-apiece on two hoops from Holmes and one from Doug Hopper (nine points). Yet that’s where Woonsocket seized control. The 17-point swing, which featured 6-of-9 shooting along with four turnovers and two misses by the visitors, took a little under three minutes to complete and put the home team ahead 47-30 with 9:12 remaining.
“That’s just typical of us running,” said Ivey-Jones. “I told them in the second half to put the pressure on them. If we walk up the ball, then that gives them the chance to set up their defense and makes us play a little slow.”
The Saints managed to trim the deficit to nine points with five minutes left, but Woonsocket restored the double-figure cushion thanks to a layup from Mike LaPlante and a follow from Akinrola.
With three winnable games next week – Chariho, Cumberland, Smithfield – St. Raphael (7-8 in league play) will likely have to win out to host a playoff game.
“We’ve got to take care of business,” said Sorrentine.
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ST. RAPHAEL (51): Jean Roussel 0 0-0 0, Jimmy McKnight 1 0-0 2, Elray Symonds 0 0-0 0, Angelo Santos 1 0-0 2, Doug Hopper 3 3-4 9, Jeff Holmes 8 4-6 20, Nick Gaj 0 0-0 0, Avery King 3 3-4 9, Mike Holland 0 0-0 0, Justin Maneca 3 0-0 9. Total: 19 10-14 51.
WOONSOCKET (63): Antjuan Jones 7 10-12 26, Brett Coderre 3 0-0 9, Prince Artey 2 1-2 5, Mike LaPlante 3 1-2 7, Lee Vasquez 2 2-2 7, Tim Harmon 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 17-22 63.
Halftime: SRA 24-22.
Three-point field goals: SRA 3 (Justin Maneca 3); W 6 (Brett Coderre 3, Antjuan Jones 2, Le Vasquez).
JV: W 65-41.
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