Narragansett’s John Sheil is hoisted by teammates in celebration after the Mariners defeated the Rebels in last night’s deciding game of the Division III championship series.

Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Thirteen months ago, Tyler Basile couldn’t skate a lick. He didn’t have to. After all, he was a lacrosse goalie.

But when his friends who were on the Narragansett hockey team told him they were in need of a goaltender, he figured, why not?

Fast-forwarding to this week, Basile hardly looked like a rookie in net for the Mariners Monday night, when he stopped 16 shots in helping Narragansett post an 8-2 win over South Kingstown that forced last night’s deciding third game of the R.I. Interscholastic League Division III finals of the Cox Sports Hockey Championships.

But he didn’t stop there. Giving a monster performance in the biggest game of the season, the senior made 39 saves in backstopping the Mariners to a 2-1 victory over the Rebels last night to clinch the first state crown in the short history of Narragansett’s program before a Boss Arena crowd of 1,158.

“Honestly, if somebody told me this was going to happen two years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Basile, who was named the tournament MVP. “It’s probably not going to set in until sometime (today), but it’s a feeling I don’t think I’m ever going to get again. So I’m going to hold onto it for as long as I can.”

Basile said that he made a couple of phone calls to Matt Straight, the now-graduated Narragansett goaltender that he replaced, for some last-minute advice.

“He said, ‘Don’t let it get in your head. Just focus on the game. That’s all you’ve got to do,’ ” said Basile. “I talked to him (Monday) before the game and I talked to him again (last night), and he’s been there for two years for me and I owe a lot of this to him.”

Coming into last night, Narragansett, which finished the regular season in second place to South Kingstown in III-South and fourth overall in Division III with an 11-4-1 record, had beaten the Rebels just once in the teams’ five previous meetings. But that one win on Monday night was all the Mariners needed to get to the game that mattered most.

As Narragansett coach Chris Lussier said then, “One game left. You don’t win it, you don’t win the state championship.”

And so the Mariners proceeded to take the lead less than four minutes into the first period last night, when Kyle Kilroy, who was just outside the crease, gathered up a loose puck that came off the stick of teammate Brian Sullivan and flipped it into the net.

Tanner Littlefield made it 2-0 less than 2 1/2 minutes into the second period and just 14 seconds into the Mariners’ first power play, converting a pass from Sullivan.

“I was just trying to get it on net,” said Littlefield, whose goal would prove to be the game-winner. “We had a lucky break and I just had a shot at the net and it happened to go in.”

Turning away one shot after another from point-blank range, including a breakaway by Bob Maione with 4:20 remaining in the second period, Basile was on his way to a shutout when Kyle Vandemoer took a pass from Kevin Agostinucci in the right circle and fired it past him at 14:34 of the final period.

“This goes down as one of the best performances I’ve seen in a long time,” said Lussier, who also commended the effort of defensemen Littlefield, Durkin, Sean O’Connell and Corey Fossa. “(Basile) earned that MVP, no doubt in my mind.”

First period scoring: N, Kyle Kilroy (Brian Sullivan, Cory Durkin) 3:54. Penalties – none.

Second period scoring: N, Tanner Littlefield (Sullivan) (pp) 2:22. Penalties – SK 1-2.

Third period scoring: SK, Kyle Vandemoer (Kevin Agostinucci) (sh) 14:34. Penalties – N 3-6; SK 2-4.

Saves – Tyler Basile, N, 39; Joe Caporelli, SK, 17.

cthorn@projo.com