'Bolts struggle against length of Blue Wave, fall to 2-2

Matt Metcalf, Assistant Sports Editor
Posted 1/15/15

Hope gained its first lead late in the first half and never looked back, as the Blue Wave handed the Cranston East boys’ basketball team its second loss in Division I on Friday night, …

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'Bolts struggle against length of Blue Wave, fall to 2-2

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Hope gained its first lead late in the first half and never looked back, as the Blue Wave handed the Cranston East boys’ basketball team its second loss in Division I on Friday night, 65-51.

Hope’s length, speed and defensive pressure bothered the ‘Bolts all game long, as they were unable to get comfortable shots on the offensive end.

“We had too many turnovers,” ‘Bolts’ head coach John Smith said. “I think we had 28 turnovers and 15 or 16 missed layups. We aren’t going to win at home, nevermind on the road, doing that. Plus they’re long. They’re a lot longer and bigger than we are.”

East struggled to contain Hope’s best player, Elijah Lewis, as well.

Lewis was a big reason why the Blue Wave were able to gain the lead late in the first half, scoring 18 of his game-high 23 points in the first 16 minutes of the game.

‘Bolts’ head coach John Smith knew that limiting Lewis would be critical coming into the game, something that his team wasn’t able to execute.

East jumped out to an early 8-1 lead over the first three minutes of the first half, putting Hope on its heels.

At the 11:30 mark, forward John Maisoh made a nice feed to Djibril Cissoko underneath the hoop, who finished nicely to give East a 10-5 lead.

From that point on, the Blue Wave began to gradually cut into their deficit, as Lewis led the charge.

Two free throws from Lewis tied the game, 18-18, with 5:15 remaining in the half.

He was then able to cash in on an and-1 two minutes later, giving Hope a 23-20 lead – its first lead of the game.

Lewis did all of his damage in the lane, getting to the hoop and finishing, whether it be in transition or in the half-court.

“He’s their best player,” Smith said of Lewis. “I don’t know if they made anything outside, it was all inside. We just gave it up.”

East’s Joe Hernandez went coast-to-coast on the ensuing possession, making it a one-point lead for Hope.

The Blue Wave were able to finish the half strong, however, mustering a five-point lead, 31-26, at the break.

In the second half, Hope never gave up its lead.

Just over three minutes into the second half, Hope’s Jonell Roberts collected an offensive rebound and put it in, stretching Hope’s lead to 39-29.

The Blue Wave turned up their defensive pressure towards the end of the first half and carried it over into the second half, forcing East to turnover the ball and take uncomfortable shots.

“We didn’t play well,” Smith said. “Our shot selection wasn’t good and we just kept turning over the ball.”

Hope reeked havoc on the glass throughout the game, cleaning up offensive misses for second-chance points, and limiting East to just one chance per trip on the offensive end.

“We don’t have any real big guys inside,” Smith said. “One of them got into foul trouble early in the first half, so we kind of had to go small, and they took advantage of that.”

Jessy Taveras made a nice pass to Frankie Derisier with eight minutes left to cut the ‘Bolts’ deficit to 50-40, but that’s as close as East would get.

Near the five minute mark, Hope point guard Angel Rivera drove to the hoop and finished off an and-1, stretching the lead back out to 61-44, and putting the game out of reach.

Taveras was held well below his season average, scoring nine hard-earned points.

East’s leading scorer in the game was Sam Hanley with 11 points, while forward James Kirwin chipped in with 10.

Besides Lewis’ game-high 23 points for Hope, Rivera had 11, while Roberts and Charles Adebayo each had 10.

The ‘Bolts were looking to get back on track Tuesday night at home against Barrington, who was one of three undefeated teams in Division I, at 4-0. Results were unavailable at press time.

“I need to get tougher with them,” Smith said. “I think they got a little bit comfortable because we won a couple of games in a row. I have to take that comfort zone and remind them that we have to play every game in Division I.”

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