Basketball"s Week Bounces Up-and-Down, Team Rebounds by Downing Townies, 82-51
Talk about a crazy week for the basketball team.
First, there was Sunday afternoon's game at the Pizzatolla Center at Brown, arguably the biggest game of the year against Barrington. Our guys prevailed in an unbelievable game, handed the Eagles their first loss of the season, and took over the top spot in D1 in the process. Both teams left the floor with identical 11-1 marks, but the Hawks owned the tiebreaker consequent to the head-to-head win.
Next up for the Hawks was a very, very good Smithfield team, a team that can not in any sense be taken lightly. It was clear from the opening tip that the Sentinels came into Pepin Gym determined to win, and it appeared that our guys just weren't ready to match their intensity.
It could also be easy to lay the disasterous 71-53 loss to the Sentinels at the feet of having come down from the emotional high of the Barrington game. Anyone watching the game, however - either in Pepin Gym or at home watching on The Network - will tell you that that's just not the case. The Sentinels came to play, wanted it more, and simply beat our guys in every phase of the game.
After having fallen behind by as many as 12 points, the Hawks seemed finally seemed to wake up and cut the lead to two points early in the second half. Some highlights along the way can be seen here:
Once the Hawks cut the lead to 39-37, however, the Sentinels went on a 16-2 run that for all intents and purposes put the game away. It was on to a hard day of practice on Wednesday under the eye of Coach Gomes.
Finally, on Thursday night, our fourth-year players and their familes were acknowledged and celebrated for the efforts and contributions during their time at Hendricken, along with other members of the basketball program.
The Hawks then took on the East Providence Townies, and whether it was havng been brought back to reality by Coach Gomes, the emotion of the pre-game, Senior Night ceremonies, or both, our guys took the court and simply ran EP out of Pepin Gym.
Right from the start, the Hawks were clicking on all cylinders. Dmitri was doing his usual thing from beyond the arc....
....JMazz was doing his thing....
....the Hawks were causing turnovers and scoring on the break....
....transfer Alex Dickerman even got into the act....
...and things were clicking so well that even the crazy bounces were going in.
When the dust cleared, the Hawks had a 31-point win, led by Dmitri Rosa's 20 points, 15 of which came from his five three-pointers.
The Hawks are now 12-2 as the D1 playoffs quickly approach, in second place behind 13-1 Barrington. Any number of teams in D1 can win the division or Open State tournaments: Barrington, LaSalle, Smithfield, Hope, Coventry, NK, and the Hawks. D1 is that strong. Our guys may be the defending state champions, but they know that the playoff road ahead is going to be long and tough.