Sports Brief: Panthers Basketball Squad Falls To Prout, 51-44

's varsity boys' basketball team finished their 2010-11 campaign on a down note, falling to The Prout School, 51-44, in the Division III semifinals, played at Community College of Rhode Island in Warwick on Feb. 25.

Panther senior captain Isaac Medeiros spent much of the game in foul trouble, racking up three infractions before the half. He finished with 12 points for the game.

In the first half, Johnston trailed, 24-17, with Medeiros on the bench. Just before halftime, Prout extended the lead to 30-17 after the Panthers committed several reach-in fouls and gave the Crusaders extra chances at the stripe.

After the break, Johnston came out firing three-pointers, cutting the Prout lead to 30-25, and later closed to 32-31 with just over 10 minutes left.

Following a foul with 7:27 left, Medeiros rode the bench again until he re-entered the game at 4:30 remaining, and promptly tried to regain momentum, bringing the score to 42-37.

With the clock ticking down, Prout took advantage of its foul-shot opportunities and maintained the slight edge until the final buzzer sounded.

Johnston, which finished the regular season as the number-one seed from Division III, will face Bishop Hendricken High School in the first round of the state basketball championship next week.

Watch for Bill Storey's full re-cap of this game tomorrow at noon on JohnstonPatch.

Reports for this game were transmitted in-progress by Stephen Greenwell, Editor of Narragansett Patch.