Ryone Drops 30 As Cape Tech Boys Hold Off Falmouth Academy

FALMOUTH – It’s hard enough to go into an opposing gymnasium and leave with a victory. It’s even harder to go on the road and win when you are without one of your top players.

Despite playing without senior Rovens Jean-Baptiste, a lockdown defender who was looking on in street clothes, the Cape Cod Tech boys basketball team was able to hold off Falmouth Academy and earn a 51-46 victory on the road Monday evening.

Fellow senior Trevor Ryone led the way for the Crusaders, scoring a game-high 30 points that included five 3-pointers.

“We’re starting to find our own and we’re starting to find out who we are,” Cape Tech coach Brent Warren said. “That was some of the best ball movement we’ve had in quite a long time.”

Like Cape Tech, the Mariners were without one of their best players in senior Nate Holmes, the Cape and Islands League’s reigning Lighthouse Division MVP. Sophomore Sasha Kaplenko led Falmouth Academy with a team-high 19 points.

“We came without one of our best players and they obviously didn’t have Nate, who is the kind of player that changes games,” Warren said. “We’ll see what happens going forward.”

Ryone credited his first-half scoring for helping him gain confidence and find a rhythm that carried into the second half. He scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including three of the four foul shots he attempted in the last eight minutes.

“I hit a few in the first half and that helped me get going,” said Ryone, who noted it helped that the team was moving the ball more than it had been on offense. “We’ve been getting way more open shots and everyone is just working as a team.”

In addition to Ryone’s big night, juniors Brady Grogan and Ethan Hautenan finished with six points apiece while classmate Daniel Colares added four.

Defensively, it was a complete team effort for the Crusaders. Everybody had to pick up their intensity in the absence of Jean-Baptiste, who Ryone said should be back in the lineup for the team’s game against Monomoy on Tuesday.

“We throw him on teams’ best players — thankfully their best player wasn’t playing today — but it makes a huge difference when he isn’t there,” Ryone said.

Although Cape Tech has hovered around .500 with a 7-6 record, Warren said he believes the Crusaders are finding their rhythm at the right time.

“It’s coming at the right time,” the coach said. “It’s not always who’s playing well at the beginning of the season, it’s who’s playing well in February that counts.”