By BRANDEN MELLO

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KINGSTON \— Coming off a heartbreaking, one-point loss to Providence Saturday, URI head coach Jim Baron was worried about the way his team would respond in a half-filled Ryan Center against a New Hampshire team that had won two games in a row.

The Rams showed their coach how focused they were with one of the best defensive first halves they’ve played this season. The Rams held the Wildcats to 33.3 percent shooing in the first 20 minutes and allowed a season-low 23 first-half points to a New Hampshire team which beat Brown Saturday.

Coventry’s heavyweight wrestler Ryan Zeolla tries
to wrap up Toll Gate’s Max Goldstein during last night’s opening dual meet at Toll
Gate High School. Zeolla would win the match by pinfall and the Oakers would easily
win over the Titans

By JAMES BESSETTE

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WARWICK — The only flaw last night for the Oakers, according to head coach Arthur Souza, was that the team needs to get into better shape and just fine tune a couple of moves.

If that’s the case, there will be many pleasant nights within the C. Arthur Fiore Gymnasium during the winter months.

Coventry proved to be more titanic on the mats last night than its counterpart who bares that very nickname, winning nine of the 10 matches via pin fall en route to a 68-16 win on the road over Toll Gate.

By ERIC RUEB

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CRANSTON – When it came down to it, bend but don’t break wasn’t just a theme for the South Kingstown football team’s defense; the cliché summed up the entire season. For a dominant Division II football team, the Rebels didn’t run over teams like La Salle in Division I or Exeter-West Greenwich in Division IV; they did what was necessary to win a particular game at a particular time.

By ERIC RUEB

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CRANSTON – You associate cold weather with football. The Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field when the Packers played the Cowboys is the aptly named Ice Bowl; Adam Vinatieri’s clutch kicks for the Patriots in the legendary – at least in these parts – Snow Bowl.

Some teams look forward to these types of games, where cold weather or snow separate winners from losers. Monday night’s matchup of South Kingstown and Tolman in the Division II Super Bowl wasn’t one of those nights.

It was cold Monday, the type of cold that freezes water in less time than a scoring drive, the type of cold where you think players will shatter after a big hit.

URI’s Kahiem Seawright takes a jump shot with
Providence guard Geoff McDermott contesting the shot during Saturday’s game at the
Dunkin Donuts Center. Photo by Jerry Silberman

By BRANDEN MELLO

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PROVIDENCE — So many interesting talking points took place in the final 17.8 seconds of Saturday’s Ocean State showdown between URI and Providence College that it’s easy to overlook the reason the Rams were forlorn as they walked off the court at the Dunk.

Sure, Jimmy Baron had a chance to win the game with a difficult 11-foot jumper in the lane with five seconds remaining in the game, but the reason the Rams didn’t pick up their second win against a BCS opponent this reason was simple - they didn’t pull down a defensive rebound when they needed it.

By BRANDEN MELLO

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PROVIDENCE — If there had been a tale of the tape prior to Saturday’s colossal Ocean State showdown at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, even the most ardent Friar fanatic would have conceded that the Rams had the advantage at the small-forward position.

Based on what is admittedly a small sample size this season, URI’s Keith Cothran came into Saturday’s game averaging 17 points a game to go along with 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists a contest. Providence College’s Weyinmi Efejuku came into the game averaging just 12.3 points and he was shooting just 35.7 percent from 3-point range.

By JAMES BESSETTE

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The only transition that much of the West Warwick boys’ track team will go through this year is just adjusting to high-school life.

Jay Koehler had one of his biggest freshman turnouts in his brief tenure as head coach of the Wizards and based on his familiarity with most of them, this season could be one of the stronger ones the program has had in recent memory.

“I’m very encouraged,” Koehler said. “We have about 30 kids on the roster right now and I think a lot of talent.”

By JAMES BESSETTE

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The bar for Coventry’s Eryn Wheeler to reach is set quite high coming into this season’s indoor track season.

She should know; she’s the one who set it in that particular spot.

In the last four weeks of last year’s season, not one of those weeks went by without Wheeler setting a new personal record in the 600-meter run. More importantly, every one of those personal bests resulted in the now senior Oaker being the first one at the finish line.

After winning the event in the Divisional and Class meets, Wheeler then became the star of the show that was the State Indoor Track Meet when she beat out East Greenwich’s Susan O’Connell and La Salle’s Jeanne Mack to clinch the title in the 600 with a time of 1 minute, 35.49 seconds.

By JAMES BESSETTE

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COVENTRY — Through his first two years as head coach of the Coventry girls’ basketball team, Chris Luppe has accepted the challenge, and so far succeeded, in restoring order on the basketball floor.

In that short amount of time, Luppe has brought the Oakers up from the cellar to a second-place finish in Division I-South at 13-5 – the team’s first 10-plus win season in over a decade – and an appearance in the semifinals against eventual runner-up Bay View.

But, Luppe has one of his biggest early challenges in keeping Coventry above water in the treacherous sea that is Division I. Finding a replacement for the girl that has donned the No. 42 jersey for the last four years.

By BRANDEN MELLO

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COVENTRY — Coventry High volleyball coach Leo Bush remembers the first time he saw Steph Carlu play a varsity volleyball match. It was during Carlu’s freshman year when the wide-eyed setter had to take the place of all-division setter Nicole Enos during a match in South Kingstown.

“She played her freshman year, she had to step in for two matches and play when Nikki Enos went down with a back injury,” Bush said. “I think the shock of her playing as a freshman was down in South Kingstown. She actually played a real nice game and she did a good job.

“But the shock of it didn’t hit her until she broke down in tears. That’s just Steph, she just goes out there and takes cares of business.”