By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET – With a young team comes growing pains. Exhibit A was on display Friday night at the Donaldson Gymnasium.
Tolman High, which returns just two players with varsity experience, showed plenty of grit and determination in the championship game of the 13th Annual James Donaldson Christmas Basketball Tournament, but Pilgrim High had just a few more answers in a nail-biting 62-60 win for the visiting Patriots.
Tolman senior Nick Fontaine led all scorers with 26 points, 21 coming after halftime. Fellow classmate Allens Etienne, who earlier this week played in the Division II Super Bowl, added 10. The rest of the lineup features a host of newcomers as Tolman head coach Mike Kayata finds himself trying to integrate a ton of new parts.
“We’re young,” admitted Kayata, who saw the Tigers surrender their three-year hold on the Donaldson title. “I told the guys that losing by so few points is going to hurt, especially for the seniors who won’t get a chance to play in this next year.
“We’re going to recover. This game was important because it was the Donaldson championship,” Kayata continued. “but for the long hall, we want to be ready for our first league game next Friday against Lincoln.”

Novice squads usually have to crawl before they can walk, and Tolman is no exception. Fighting back from a seven-point deficit in the second half, the Tigers roared all the back to take the lead, 54-52, with under eight minutes remaining.
In the end, the difference maker was Pilgrim’s height, which bothered Tolman virtually the entire night. The Patriots (3-0) feature four players standing 6-foot-4 or greater, an asset that made life difficult for the Tigers at times.
Up 61-59 with 17 seconds remaining, the Tigers turned to Fontaine, who missed a turnaround on the baseline. Tolman (2-1) was given new life when it grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 14 ticks left. Wanting to generate something towards the rim, Fontaine inbounded the ball to a streaking Etienne, who went to the line with three seconds showing.
Etienne missed the first but made the second to shrink Pilgrim’s lead to one. Tolman immediately fouled, removing a second off the clock. The Patriots’ Kevin Stenhouse made 1-of-2, but with no timeouts and forced to go the length of the floor the Tigers had no choice but to throw up a desperation heave at the buzzer.
Pilgrim escaped despite shooting a ghastly 17-of-41 from the charity stripe. Tyler Pina came off the bench to score 14 points for the Patriots, earning game MVP honors.
“Our defense, we rebounded well and got a lot of blocked shots,” said Pilgrim head coach Ross Callen when asked to pinpoint what the difference was. “We always tell the guys to keep their hands up to change shots.”
The Patriots struggled in the early going, missing nine straight before a follow by Stenhouse (12 points) ended the drought. Pilgrim attacked Tolman’s small frontline with an aggressive style that the Tigers could do nothing about except foul.
Pilgrim started forming a conga line at the foul line as it seemed every possession came to a grinding halt. The Patriots attempted 20 free throws in the opening half (making eight). On the flip side Tolman, which was whistled for 15 fouls, went to the line just five times, finishing with 19.
Despite missing out on plenty of golden opportunities, the Patriots slowly began to distance themselves from the Tigers early in the second half. Two layups and a trey from Pina helped key a 7-2 burst to put the Patriots up 41-32 with 10:56 to go.
The Tigers, on the strength of Fontaine, fought back. Fontaine scored seven of his club’s nine points to tie the game at 52. The Tigers then took the lead on a left-handed scoop shot by sophomore Rhshaan Sam.
The two teams traded leads before Pilgrim went ahead to stay on a one-hander in the lane by Sean Furney, who led his team with 16 points. That came with 1:11 left.
“We showed a lot of heart and intensity down the stretch,” said Kayata, whose club will tune up for league play with a scrimmage at five-time defending state champ Bishop Hendricken next Wednesday.
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PILGRIM (62): Tyler Pina 4 4-6 14, Chris Nash 4 1-6 11, Kevin Stenhouse 4 4-8 12, Mike Englet 0 0-2 0, Sean Furney 5 5-13 16, Mike Colabella 3 3-6 9, Ari Brooks 0 0-0 0, Mark Loiselle 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 17-41 62.
TOLMAN (60): Rhshaan Sam 3 1-3 5, Vladimir Alcindor 2 0-0 4, Eric Spanger 3 0-1 6, Chris DosSantos 0 0-0 0, Stephen Zetina 0 0-0 0, Nick Fontaine 9 5-7 26, Nikosi Scott 2 1-2 5, Allens Etienne 4 2-4 10, Julio Andrade 1 0-0 2. Totals: 24 9-19 60.
Halftime: P 28-23.
Three-point field goals: P5 (Tyler Pina 2, Chris Nash 2, Sean Furney); T 3 (Nick Fontaine 3).

All-Tournament Team
Tyler Ferreira (Tiverton), Kelvin Walker (Shea), Nick Fontaine (Tolman), Allens Etienne (Tolman), Kevin Stenhouse (Pilgrim).

Most Valuable Player
Tyler Pina (Pilgrim).