Barrington Unified basketball team wins title

Eagles defeat Townies in finals, 31-23

EastBayRI.com ·

What a way to end the season!

The Barrington High School Unified basketball team won another RI Interscholastic League divisional championship Sunday, with a 31-23 victory over East Providence at Bishop Hendricken in Warwick. It was a fabulous finish for a group of wonderful kids.

The Eagles had beaten Pilgrim in the semifinal round, 42-30, at home, after a first-round bye.

“We finally got one,” beamed Eagles’ head coach Mike Topazio, who had suffered some heartbreaking losses in the state tournament with his Barrington Middle School girls’ basketball squad. “And, it was nice to get this victory in Corey’s (assistant coach Corey Aguiar) last game with me. It was exciting, yet sad.”

Coach Aguiar, who like Coach Topazio is a Bristol resident, has been an assistant coach with the Barrington Middle School Lady Eagles the past several years, and insisted on becoming Topazio’s assistant coach with the Barrington High Unified team this year. Coach Aguiar will be relocating to Gainsville, Fla. in a few weeks, so he wanted to end his tenure here with a flourish.

“I’m going to miss these kids,” said Coach Aguiar. “I’ve had a great time coaching with Mike at the middle school, and now with the Unified team at the high school. You never know, though, maybe I’ll be back one day.”

In the championship game Sunday, the Eagles were down one point at the half, but with a tight defense and some clutch shooting in the last 5 minutes, they pulled it out.

“This is back-to-back titles for BHS Unified as they won it last year,” said Coach Topazio.

“What a rewarding coaching experience this has been,” he continued. “Twenty-nine kids to get into a game…no complaints, just trusted my judgement, and there was fun at every turn. Everyone should experience coaching or teaching special needs kids at least once in their lifetime. They had such great personalities.”

Team members included Alex Arenburg, Olivia Bennett, Sara Coffey, Jake Colemen, Marina Domenici, Will Dreier, Julia Murray, Jon Nelligan, Iasacc Nestell, Galen Nordhoff, Dan Parent, Angel Pereira, Michael Riley, Anna Robertson, Ethan Roderick, Caleb Shea, Sean Muldoon, Ethan Pereira, Ryan Hellmann, Tobias Rein, Pat Hoover, Makaya Lane, Rob McGarry, Adam Portugali, Jon Sullivan, Jaffet Ortega, Caitlyn Corvi, Sophia Mecca and Erin Coffey.