By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

KINGSTON – The finishing statement was supposed to be mission accomplished. For Central Falls, that’s what the past 12 months had been geared towards.
One final hurdle remained in the Warriors’ quest to capture the school’s first boys’ basketball crown in 21 seasons. In order to achieve this storybook ending, CF would have to sidestep Moses Brown. The Quakers were a club the Warriors never lost sight of during a stellar 17-1 regular season, the sole reason being Moses Brown was responsible for nixing CF’s title hopes one year ago.
Central Falls got the rematch it craved. The final result was a different story. Moses Brown achieved back-to-back status Saturday afternoon at URI’s Ryan Center, a building that’s quickly becoming “Heartbreak Hill” for the Warriors. The Quakers broke open a two-point game at halftime with a series of substantial runs, dashing CF’s hopes in the Division III Championship, 60-49.
For the second straight March Central Falls (20-3 overall) watched Moses Brown explode in jubilation once the clock reached triple zeros. The Warriors tried to put on brave faces while the Quakers received their championship paraphernalia, a scene CF vowed to avoid, especially after how last season concluded.
Brian Crookes, taking a moment from tending to his players, admitted much time will have to elapse before the scars heal.  “We’ll pick each other up and go back to the drawing board, but we’re going to hurt awhile” said the CF head coach. “Last year’s loss stung and didn’t get out of my system until halfway through this year. I don’t know how long this one is going to hurt.”
Central Falls was the possessor of some mightily impressive stats heading into Saturday. The one grabbing the most headlines was a 19-game winning streak, but what shouldn’t be easily overlooked is that the Warriors averaged close to 75 points per and posted an amazing 18 victories by double figures. In the two head-to-head meetings with Moses Brown, CF posted a pair of wins by 27 combined points.
None of the above threw a scare into the Quakers. If Moses Brown was to keep the crown, it would have to be brains over brawn. Central Falls possessed four legit playmakers in George Carle (16 points, 12 rebounds), Robert Alers (eight points, 12 assists), Antonio Mena (10 points, 14 rebounds) and Luis Pena (10 points). Trying to out-quick the flashy Warriors clearly was out of the question.
What Moses Brown did was bring Central Falls’ normally high-octane transition game to a grinding halt. Crookes does give the Warriors the green light to shoot, but problems start arising when those attempts aren’t nestling through the net. It adds up to a tough day at the office as CF couldn’t find the range, shooting just 31 percent (20-for-65) from the floor. Those same struggles carried over to the free throw line where the Warriors went 6-of-19.
Crookes’ explanation was simple: the shots that fell all season simply didn’t drop when they needed to most. “When you miss shots, the pressure builds until you make shots,” he said. “It’s harder to make shots when you’re thinking ‘We’ve got to get a score.’
“Moses Brown extended out to the corners, to the wings and the top, forcing us to handle the ball everywhere we went and take tough shots,” said Crookes. “I thought we got a lot of good looks, they just didn’t go down. There was a lid out there.”
Clearly Moses Brown head coach Elliott Butcher knows what is required to tame CF on the biggest stage. In last year’s title game the Warriors could only muster 48 points.
“We employ three different defenses, a matchup 1-3-1, a ‘tree’ which is mainly switching, and a 3-2,” said Butcher. “We wanted to take a little bit of time off clock every time down to eliminate shots. The more shots they get up, obviously the more points they score.”
“They did a good job boxing us out,” said Carle. “We just weren’t hitting shots to keep the game close.”
Both sides were at a virtual standstill in the first half. No one went up by more than three points with the lead changing hands 14 times. The final tradeoff came right before halftime with Quakers senior Benjamin Drapcho (14 points) nailing a shot inside to give his team a razor-thin 24-22 advantage.
Facing adversity for the first time three months, CF watched as Moses Brown asserted its will all over the court in the latter half. A 9-1 Quaker run pinned the Warriors in a 33-23 hole with not even three minutes gone by. Things only grew worse.
During a five-minute stretch that sealed CF’s fate, the Warriors turned the ball over three times, missed six shots and four free throws. With just over four minutes remaining, Moses Brown was in complete control, up 54-34.
CF finally found its offensive stride late, outscoring Moses Brown 12-4 to close the game out. By that point the outburst was too late. Moses Brown was heading towards another title.  
“We worked all year to get back here,” said Crookes. “The guys played with their hearts (left) out on their sleeves, they gave me everything they had. The lessons they learned on that floor will translate throughout the rest of their lives.”
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MOSES BROWN (60): Anjuwon Spence 8 3-6 19, Ben Drapcho 6 2-2 14, Ian Deveau 5 0-0 11, Luc Vernerey 0 0-1 0, Luke Martin 1 1-5 3, Tosan Eyetsemitan 5 3-4 13, Daril Geisser 0 0-0 0, Brady Keene 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 9-18 60.
CENTRAL FALLS (49): Luis Pena 4 0-2 10, George Carle 8 0-0 16, Antonio Mena 4 2-5 10, Angel Gonzalez 1 3-8 5, Robert Alers 3 1-4 8, Albert Bello 0-0 0, Jason Pita 0 0-0 0, Kelvin Lopes 0 0-0 0, Aneury Florentino 0 0-0 0, Cory Cassamas 0 0-0 0, Eric Wilcox 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 6-19 49.
Halftime: MB 24-22.
Three-point field goals: MB 1 (Ian Deveau); CF 3 (Luis Pena 2, Robert Alers).
All-Tournament Team
George Carle (Central Falls), Antonio Mena (Central Falls), Ryan Pangborn (Mount St. Charles), Stephen Vario (North Smithfield), Luke Martin (Moses Brown).
Tournament Most Valuable Player: Anjuwon Spence (Moses Brown)