Tiverton boys still unbeaten; roll to 35-point playoff opening win

Led by the hot shooting of sophomore guard Carson Hart (31 points), top-seed Tiverton pushed its unbeaten league streak to 19-0 (20-4 overall) and won its Division III playoff opener Tuesday evening 75-40 over Central Falls at home.

Coach Dave Landoch preached defense based on the Tigers’ earlier experience against Central Falls — an 88-70 shootout won by the Tigers. It was the most any division team scored against Tiverton all season.

Tiverton raced out to a commanding lead of 19-2, and carried that pace through most of the first until a late rally by Central Falls, helped by an uncharacteristic series of Tiverton turnovers, cut into that big lead and brought the score to 39-20 at the half.

The Warriors began the second half as they ended the first, going on a 7-1 spurt and closing the margin to 40-27.

That was as close as things would get, however as Tiverton regained its defensive edge forcing the Warriors into turnovers and bad shots of their own, helping theTigers to a 10 point run.

Tiverton next faces faces fifth-seed Burrillville in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Friday at Roger Williams University in Bristol. Earlier in the season, Tiverton came back to win a scrappy defensive game by a 48-41 score against Burrillville.

The division championship game will be Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Community College of Rhode Island in Warwick.

Carson Hart led all scorers with 31 points and 10 rebounds. Tyler Murray also managed a double-double — 18 points, 14 rebounds.

Stephen Gacioch and Michael Hrycin scored eight each; Dylan Clark and Will Brigham, three each; Aaron Carreira, two; Matt Gacioch and Kyle Soares, one each.