Basketball Beats 'Novans at Their Own Game, 85-67

One thing that has always held true about Rhode Island high school basketball - the Woonsocket Villa Novans are always a tough out, especially when they're playing on their home court. Our guys witnessed that first-hand last night up in the northern part of the state but managed to adust their game to match the Villa Novans' up-tempo, fast-break style and, in the end, came away with a reasonably comfortable win.

With the win, the Hawks go to 10-1 in D1 league play and 12-5 overall.

Going into the game, the Hawks knew that they'd be without two of their biggest contributors, starters Ira Lough and Kyle Henseler, both of whom were home sick. Stepping up in their place and getting the job done were freshman Preston Santos and junior Dmitri Rosa.

In fact, Preston more than stepped up - he dropped 31 points on the 'Novans, on 15-18 shooting from the field. There's no doubt that we've only seen the beginning of the excitement he's going to bring to Hawk Nation over the course of the next 3 1/2 years.

Woonsocket pushed the pace of the game early with their up-tempo, fast- breaking style, and they also buried 12 three-pointers to keep themselves in the game. The Hawks eventually adjusted and turned the tables on the 'Novans, especially in the second half, when it was our guys who pushed the pace en route to 52 second-half points.

In addition to Preston's 31 points, JMazz was his usual stellar self, netting 21 of his own (along with 12 assists and seven rebounds), while key contributions also came off the bench from Adam LaValle, Jason Rosario, and Matt Ricci.

The Hawks are in action again tomorrow night when they travel to St. Ray's for a 7 pm contest. Then, on Sunday afternoon comes one of the biggest games of the year, when the Hawks and the Barrington Eagles - two of the top teams in the state - go head-to-head at Brown University. Game time for that one is 2 pm. The Network will have live coverage of both games, so if you can't be there to support our guys, be sure to tune in.

Tomorrow night will also be another double broadcast, as we'll have live coverage of the basketball game at St. Ray's at 7pm, in addition to live coverage of the hockey team's game against Smithfield from Thayer Arena. The puck drops for that one at 6:30 pm.