The Bishop Hendricken unified basketball team edged out East Greenwich, 37-31, at home on Wednesday morning in front of a packed gymnasium.

Tyler Soares led the Hawks with 14 points behind his consistent jump shooting. Chris Zimmerly wasn’t far behind with eight points and Matt Mangili chipped in six. Josh Tucker hit the game’s only 3-pointer and finished with five, while Mike Castelli and Brook Golding each registered a bucket. Golding was also celebrating his birthday, and the entire crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to him before tipoff.

“I think this is a great environment,” Hendricken head coach Jeremy Graney said. “Our student body does a great job, and this is like our senior night, this is our state championship. This is the biggest venue they’ll play for, for a lot of them. So just really good energy and how we get both teams kind of involved.”

Hendricken got out to a fast start and took an 8-4 lead following Castelli’s jumper. The Avengers hung tight, though, with shots from Brett Darcey and Justin Ferra knotting the score at 8.

The Hawks got hot again, going on a 6-1 run that included four points from Soares. Zimmerly got a shot to go off the backboard, boosting Hendricken to a 14-9 lead.

East Greenwich cut the deficit down to one point behind strong shooting from Kaitlyn Natal, but an 8-2 surge for the Hawks gave them the momentum heading into halftime. Mangili got the burst going with two shots off the backboard, and closed it out with another jumper to give the Hawks a 22-15 lead at the break.

Hendricken took a quick 9-point lead out of the break when Zimmerly banked in another shot, but the Avengers then put together a run. Chase Manning drained back-to-back attempts and Natal got one to fall to get East Greenwich within three points, 24-21.

Soares got the hot hand after that point, however, and helped push Hendricken’s lead back out to nine. He got a close-range shot to drop before pulling up from outside the restricted area for two more jumpers. The Hawks led 30-21 with just less than eight minutes to go.

The Avengers kept answering Hendricken, but Tucker connected on a shot from beyond the arc to push the Hawks out to a 35-25 advantage.

Zimmerly’s short-range shot with just 1:18 to go iced the victory for the Hawks, who held a 37-29 lead.

“We’re doing well,” Graney said. “We’ve got some great guys coming out for the team and playing each other’s strengths, working each other really well to make some plays and get everyone some shots.”

Next up for the Hawks is a road matchup with Warwick Vets at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. The Avengers will host Pilgrim at 3:30 p.m. next Wednesday.