Portsmouth beats Dartmouth, primes for regular season

We are really deep, so we can change it up.”

Joe Occhi, PHS boys basketball head coach

PORTSMOUTH — Led by 21 points and 11 rebounds from Matthew Clark, the Portsmouth High School boys’ basketball team defeated Dartmouth at home Tuesday evening, 54-33, in the final non-league game for the Patriots before the start of their Division II schedule.

As the first half came to a close, Dartmouth remained close with the Patriots’ lead at just five. In the final 16 minutes, however, Portsmouth went on a run to open the second half and rolled to an easy victory.

“Our defense got better as the game went along, but it is the first game,” Portsmouth head coach Joe Occhi said. “We didn't shoot well and neither did they. You see a lot of those things in the first game.”

To begin the game, both teams struggled to find offense until Clark scored six of Portsmouth’s 10 points to catapult them to an early 10-4 lead. Dartmouth would battle back, however, as John Skrzypiec hit two shots before the teams went into halftime with Portsmouth up 23-18.

After the break in action, the Patriots came out firing offensively as they went on a 9-2 run thanks in part to great passing from Sean Coyne. From there, Portsmouth would never look back as Clark scored seven more points in the final five minutes to help his team to a 54-33 win.

“He had a very good overall game and that is the type of game I have been waiting for him to have consistently because he can beat you in a lot of ways,” Mr. Occhi said.

With non-league games behind them for now, Portsmouth turns its attention to three league games before the calendar turns, and Mr. Occhi said his players can put up another impressive season if they do things right.

Last winter, the Patriots lost twice to the eventual champs as they once again qualified for the Open State Tournament while finishing their regular season in a share of first place in D-II with Westerly at 16-1.

Portsmouth lost to Narragansett, the third place team in the regular season at 15-2, in the semifinals of the league playoffs. The Mariners defeated Westerly for the title. 

In the open event, the Pats fell to Hendricken in the quarters. The Hawks would later claim their second Open State championship with a win over La Salle.

“If we do what we do well, I think we are going to be more than fine, but it is hard,” Mr. Occhi said. “We have to keep our focus and intensity for the whole game and if we do that, no one likes to play against that.” 

Fast-pace game

The coach said he wants his team to pressure the ball and play a fast pace. Once advantage Portsmouth has this year is a large amount of returning players. With the Patriots losing only their backcourt from last season, Mr. Occhi is turning to his seniors to lead the team.

“We are senior-heavy. As the old saying goes, the team will only go as far as the seniors will take it,” he said. While Portsmouth won’t have a set lineup going forward, Mr. Occhi said he will have an eight-man rotation that he uses often. This will include, but is not limited to, junior James Reilly, sophomore Skrzpiec, senior football standout and guard Coyne, and seniors Clark and Zachary Rahilly.

“The beauty of what we have here is we have a big lineup that we will put in for a little while and a guard-heavy lineup,” Mr. Occhi said. “We are really deep so we can change it up.”

In order for the Patriots to approach their performance of a year ago, they must play good defense, he said. “We don’t win unless we play it well,” Mr. Occhi said.

As for Portsmouth's sternest competition, that is still to be decided with the divisional realignment. “I don’t really know. (D-II) is all jumbled up,” he said. “A bunch of teams dropped down from Division I that we haven't seen in a couple of years.”

Off of their impressive season last year, Mr. Occhi wants to believe this year's edition can perform around the same level.

“I would love to do as well as we did last year,” he said. “I would love to win D-II and get into the open tournament and go from there.”

The Patriots’ first league game is Friday, Dec. 16, as Portsmouth will travel to Middletown with tipoff set for 7 p.m.