By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports writer

EAST PROVIDENCE - With its offense not quite to its liking in the first half of its Division I contest with East Providence Monday night, Mount Pleasant decided to get a little defensive.
The strategy paid dividends.
Picking up their defense to another level in the second half, the Kilties pulled away from the Townies in an eventual 60-45 triumph. Trailing 26-24 at the half, the Kilties took command in the latter half, led by sophomore Billy Soriano. The talented point guard scored 16 of his game-high 18 points after the break.

In a battle of the only two unbeaten teams in D-I East, the Kilties improved to 4-0 in the league. The Townies, who had a team-high 13 points from Abe Daramola and nine points and nine rebounds from John Villari, dropped to 3-1.
“I think tonight it was the defense, so we had to go with our best
 defenders in the second half,” MP head coach Chris Coleman said. “We knew coming into East Providence they want to keep it in the 40 and 50s. They don’t want to play in the 70s and 80s with anybody. We knew it was going to be a rock fight, and it was. I think tonight we matched their rock fight with defense. We went heavy on the defense in the second half and were able to make them turn it over with the three-quarter press and we were able to score off of that.”
After a back-and-forth inside game that included a grilling defense by both squads, the Kilties were able to make their decisive run with just about 12 minutes remaining in the contest. Behind by four at 34-30, Mount Pleasant out-shot East Providence by a quick 14-5 margin for a 44-39 advantage. The Kilties’ run, which took about four minutes, was spurred primarily by their defense, one that caused the Townies into numerous turnovers during the stretch.
“Their pressure got to us and they were able to get back into the game,” EP head coach Alex Butler said. ‘They worked until they found a way to win the game.”
After the Townies managed to close the gap at three (44-41) on a bucket from Donald Williams with 7:51 left in the game, Soriano did his part to finish off the Townies. He began by nailing a 3-pointer shortly after William’s shot. Soriano then proceeded to lift his team’s offense in the final minutes by scoring seven of the Kilties next nine points.
“He’s an extremely solid player,” Butler said. “He’s the head of their team. He’s the guy that’s No. 1 on the scouting report because he runs the show. You’re not going to stop them from scoring. They have too many good players, but you are going to slow them down. We did that for a good part of the game, but he’s good. He’s got the ball on a string and he’s very crafty and he’s wise beyond his years as far as a basketball player.”
The Townies will try and get back on track this Wednesday when they play host to Cranston East.
“It’s a wide open league,” Butler said. “You have to be ready to play every night. You can’t walk into a gym and say this is a ’W’. That’s not the case.”