Patriot boys can’t keep pace with Scituate

  After scoring two straight signature victories, the Revere High School boys’ basketball team ran into an experienced and precise opponent in the Scituate Sailors last Friday evening in their Div. 2 Round of 32 playoff game. From the late stages of the first quarter on, the Patriots were unable to keep pace with the Sailors and suffered a convincing 80-41 setback.

  The 45th seeded Patriots concluded the season at 11-11 overall. Aside from last Friday’s contest, however, the season concluded on an overall high note. Revere pulled off a playoff-clinching win in the final regular-season game over Lynn English, a team it hadn’t defeated in a decade. The Patriots followed that up by traveling west and upsetting No. 20 Springfield Science & Tech in the preliminary round. It was Revere’s first postseason tournament triumph since 2001.

  Faced with a large and vocal Scituate home crowd, the Patriots hung close through three-quarters of the opening period. Revere’s James Clauto scored to make it a 15-11 contest in favor of the hosts. That’s when things began to unravel for the Patriots. Revere went scoreless for nearly six minutes before Ramadan Barry’s free throw and a field goal by Hamza Ghoul a minute later finally broke the ice. In the meantime, Scituate lit it up from the perimeter and attacked the basket successfully to build a commanding 38-14 lead with about two minutes remaining in the first half. Looking up at a daunting 46-17 halftime deficit, the Patriots were basically playing for pride over the final two quarters against the senior-laden Scituate squad, whose depth and chemistry on the court was too much for Revere on this night.

  Scituate earned its 16th victory of the season and have since advanced to the Round of 8.

  Scituate really made it difficult for Revere’s offense, which had amassed over 70 points in its previous two games. Also, the normally tough Revere defense was uncharacteristically torched by the Sailors (46 points in the first half alone).

  Domenic Boudreau ended up leading the Patriots offensively with 11 points, including two baskets from beyond the arc. Clauto poured in 10 (nine of those in the first quarter). Jack D’Ambrosio netted seven and Barry finished with four, including a three-pointer. Other Patriots making the scoresheet were Chris Claudio with a three-pointer and Deivis Cruceta and Ethan Day with two points each.

  Departing seniors from this year’s squad include Ghoul, D’Ambrosio, Barry, Clauto, Ihssan Mourouane and Kenny Arango.