The Cranston East Thunderbolts come up short, 63-62, versus the Hope Blue Wave at Hope High School on Thursday night.

East was just 11-of-23 from the charity stripe in the contest, which led to its demise.

“We’re a fairly young team, playing a lot of sophomores, but it comes down to free throw shooting,” Cranston East head coach Isaiah McDaniel said. “If we hit four more of those free throws down the stretch and we win the basketball game, then we’re not in that situation. So, it’s something that we’ll do better down the stretch and we’ll mature with the games we play.”

Aireus Raspberry had a game-high 21 points. Nelvin Blanco added 16 points and Sam Hanley had 12. For Hope, A.J. Logan had 20 points and Theo Jadotte had 13 points and 17 rebounds while blocking five shots.

East jumped out to an early 8-0 lead. First, senior center Donovan Ranglin was there to put back a Hanley missed jumper. Then, Blanco earned a steal and laid it up down the other end to go up 4-0. A layup from Blanco and a jumper from Hanley made it 8-0 before Hope head coach David Nyblom called a timeout.

The first points for Hope came on a pair of free throws from Logan. Then, a jumper from Raspberry put East up 10-2. A layup from Hope’s Jadotte pulled it within 10-4.

Ranglin and Raspberry extended East’s lead to 14-4 before Logan got a bank shot to go to stop the run. Logan nailed a 3-pointer and a 2-point basket to cut the East lead to 14-11 with 9:44 left in the first half.

Logan threw up an air ball, but luckily for his team, his teammate Aaron Varona was there to clean up the mess, pulling Hope within 14-13. After East’s Paul Maguire missed a jumper, Raspberry was there for the putback, increasing the East lead to 16-13. Seconds later, though, Hope would tie it on a 3-pointer from Logan. Hope went up two before East tied it with a breakaway layup.

East’s Maguire buried a trey and Blanco found Anthony Wilcox for a layup to give East a 23-18 lead with 4:45 left in the half. Moments later, Gabriel Canelo-Gonzalez dished to Maclean Hanley for a lay-in and a 25-20 lead. Blanco then extended the East lead with two free throws as East went up, 27-20, with 2:29 left to play in the half. At the break, Cranston East led 31-26.

Hope scored first in the second half when Lugo fed James Keenan for a layup, making it 31-28. The next time down, Logan made a pair of free throws to pull Hope within 31-30. Hope’s Jadotte blocked Raspberry, but East would get the offensive board and Raspberry drained a jumper to give East a 33-30 lead.

Moments later, Raspberry hit another jumper for East, putting it up four. Then, Logan found Varona to cut it to two, before Hope tied it at 35 when Jadotte put back his own miss. Hope went up, 37-35, when Varona dished to Travis Barbour for a layup with 11:53 left. However, Ranglin would tie it for East before Sam Hanley pushed East ahead on a trey to make it 40-37 East.

After Hope tied the game, Raspberry dished to Sam Hanley for another 3-pointer and a 43-40 East edge. Then, Ranglin blocked Dennis De Los Santos near the net and Raspberry scored a layup down the other end to go up, 45-40, with 7:59 left.

A driving layup from Hope’s Josh Defaria cut the lead to 45-42. Then, Yasser Ramirez cleaned up a miss by Defaria, cutting it to 45-44. Logan made a free throw for Hope to tie it at 45 with 6:33 left. East’s Sam Hanley answered by making three free throws, and Raspberry had a putback to put East up 50-45. However, the lead wouldn’t last.

A trey and layup from Logan would tie it at 50 with 4:40 to play.

Seconds later, a 3-point play from Jadotte gave Hope a 53-50 lead. East’s Blanco made a pair of free throws shortly after to pull East within 53-52 with 4:15 to play. A layup from Hope’s Keenan put Hope back up 55-52. After a missed 3-point attempt from Raspberry, Hope extended its lead to five when Logan fed Keenan inside for a layup.

Blanco passed inside to Anthony Wilcox, but Wilcox’s layup attempt missed and Hope grabbed the rebound, which led to Keenan scoring down the other end, giving Hope a 59-52 advantage with just two minutes to play. East’s Raspberry and Blanco were able to cut it down to 59-54 at the line. Things got interesting with a minute to play when Blanco came up with a steal and scored a breakaway layup to bring East within 59-56.

However, East would foul Logan and Varona after that. They went a combined 3-of-4 from the stripe, extending Hope’s lead to 62-56 with 36 seconds to play.

A lay-in from East’s Raspberry pulled East within 62-58. Next, a steal from East’s Isaiah Hinds led to a layup by Sam Hanley, which cut it to 62-60 with 8.7 seconds left. East quickly fouled Logan, who made a free throw.  

East looked to tie the game with 7.8 seconds to go, but the Hope defense crowded the 3-point line. Raspberry lobbed a pass inside to an open Wilcox, who hit a layup as time expired, leaving East one point shy of a tie. Hope escaped with a 63-62 win.

“We had a tough three-game skid with three road games to start the season, Hope, Central and Classical, that’s not an easy grind,” McDaniel said. “But they’re playing well and we’ve lost two games by a total of five points, so I can’t really ask them for anything more.”