Hawks ease past Skippers to improve to 2-0

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 12/29/15

The Bishop Hendricken boys’ basketball team avenged its playoff loss to North Kingstown last season with a 61-46 victory over the Skippers last Tuesday night at home.

Guard Justin Mazzulla led …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Hawks ease past Skippers to improve to 2-0

Posted

The Bishop Hendricken boys’ basketball team avenged its playoff loss to North Kingstown last season with a 61-46 victory over the Skippers last Tuesday night at home.

Guard Justin Mazzulla led the Hawks with 15 and guard Dimitri Rosa followed close behind with 11. Guard Kyle Henseler poured in all nine of his points in the first half while guard Preston Santos spaced out his nine more evenly.

“We just had to focus on what we were gonna do in terms of our execution,” assistant coach Brett Kearns, who was filling in for head coach Jamal Gomes while he was sick, said. “The kids play hard. I thought we executed decently well. We have a long way to go. It’s been a natural rivalry for the last six, seven years. Every year is new.”

Hendricken’s lockdown defense in the first half allowed it to build a 33-16 advantage going into halftime. The Skippers were held to just three field goals in the first 16 minutes, with free throws being their saving grace. North Kingstown was 10-of-16 from the charity stripe in the half as the Hawks found themselves in foul trouble.

“I thought defensively we did a good job of just trying to keep the ball away from their scorers,” Kearns said. “Where we got hurt was at the foul line. Gave them easy baskets. I thought defensively we applied good pressure on the ball. We were disruptive. We tried to take them out of what they want to run. NK is very good at executing their offenses.”

The Hawks (3-0 in Division I) got enough help from the field to overcome the fouls, as seven different players hit field goals before the break.

Santos made a statement early when he put a missed layup back with authority for his first of several dunks on the night to put the Hawks up 4-0. Billy Mueller continued the hot start with his only make of the first half, but it put Hendricken ahead 10-2.

As the Skippers’ shooting woes continued, the Hawks increased their lead. Isaiah Mylers came off the bench to notch three blocks and had a key, old-fashioned 3-point play to put Hendricken on top 18-6. Robert Daly hit a free throw to cut it to 18-7, but Mazzulla answered right back with a steal on the Skippers’ next possession, followed by a thunderous dunk.

“The best part about Justin’s development is his ability to lead,” Kearns said. “Justin’s come in this year with a totally new level of focus. Our kids have responded to him in terms of his level of focus and his mental discipline every day. So that’s what I’m most proud of. He works extremely hard in the offseason and each and every single day, but in terms of his leadership and his mental discipline and his maturity and growth, that’s what he’s made the most progress with.”

Teddy Roberts got the Skippers within 10, 25-15, but an 8-1 run to close out the half from Hendricken would quickly erase the momentum. Henseler and Matthew Sweeney hit back-to-back shots to build the advantage back up to 14.

To add insult to injury, Henseler knocked down an NBA-distance 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left in the first half to up Hendricken’s lead to 17.

North Kingstown would shoot better in the second half, making 12 shots from the field and outscoring the Hawks by two points, but the gap was too wide to close. Rosa’s sharpshooting didn’t help its cause, either, as the senior grabbed eight of his 11 points in the second half. He hit an important 3-pointer with 5:49 left in the game to put Hendricken up 52-33, forcing a Skippers timeout.

Henseler didn’t score in the second half, but senior forward Trevor Lawton emerged to score five key points, while Santos picked up two more dunks. His last one put the Hawks ahead 57-42 with just two minutes to go.

Overall, 10 different Hawks got on the scoresheet. Andrew Almonte and Matthew Ricci got in on the scoring action late when they got to the line for free throws. Almonte made one of his two attempts, and Ricci sunk both of his to close Hendricken’s scoring, 61-43.

Hendricken will play a few non-league games over the break in Boston before heading to Providence for a road matchup with rival La Salle (3-0 in D-I) on Jan. 6. The Rams’ last D-I game of 2015 was also Tuesday night, as La Salle took care of Cranston West, 67-30. In two non-league games since then, La Salle has beaten Fitch, 51-38, and lost to Bridgewater-Raynham, 56-53.

“They can’t have the La Salle game in mind, we’ve got some tough games in Boston,” Kearns said. “St. John’s Prep is always good. East Boston’s always good. So we’ll just take one game at a time, and then we’ll worry about La Salle when we get back in Rhode Island.”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here