The CCRI Knights and Lady Knights indoor track teams traveled to the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury Crossings, Mass. to start the 2014 indoor track and field season with some good performances at the 2014 Roxbury Community College Tiger Open.

The Lady Knights were led by freshman Haley Beausoleil (Plainfield, Conn.), who placed fifth in the 400 in a time of 1:03.67. Beausoleil also placed 13th in the 200 in a time of 28.03. Also performing well was Shenelle Teixeira (Barrington), placing ninth in the 60 dash with a time of 8.64 seconds, then coming back to place ninth in the 200 with a time of 27.75 seconds.

Knights’ thrower Colin Cabral (Cumberland) placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 40-feet, 11.75-inches. The Knights’ other thrower, Kevin Redmond (South Kingstown), placed ninth in the shot with a 36-foot, 3.50-inch toss. Middle-distance runner Daniel Duquette (North Attleboro, Mass.) placed fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:02.10. also running in that race was Joe Gareri (Uxbridge, Mass.). who placed 17th with a time of 2:25.71. Austin White (Woonsocket) placed 18th in a time of 2:32.80. In the 400, Joshua Rembert (Boston, Mass.) placed seventh in a time of 54.17. Samson Olowoporoku (Osun-State, Nigeria) placed ninth in the 400 with a time of 54.42 seconds, then followed that up by placing ninth in the 200 with a time of 23.85. Rounding out the action for the Knights was the 4x400 relay team of Rembert, Duquette, White and Olowoporoku, who placed fifth in a time of 3:39.43.

The next meet for CCRI will be Jan. 25 when the Knights travel to Middletown, Conn. to compete in the Wesleyan Invitational beginning at 10 a.m.

Knights victorious over Mercer Vikings

The CCRI Knights men’s basketball team traveled to South Windsor, N.J. to play the Vikings of Mercer County Community College recently. The Knights defeated the Vikings 71-62. With the victory, the Knights improved to 11-6 on the season and win their first game of 2014. 

The CCRI Knights used two impressive runs, one in the first half and one in the second, to propel themselves to the win. In the first half, with the Knights leading 23-21 and 5:50 left, they used an aggressive man-to-man defense to close out the half with a 16-9 run to take a 39-30 lead into halftime.

Mercer closed the gap to 49-48 with 12 minutes to play but the Knights put a 7-0 run together to get the lead back to eight points to make the score 56-48. The Knights maintained the lead for the rest of the game.

Leading the way for CCRI was Anthony Jernigan (East Hartford, Conn.) with 26 points, including 4-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc, while dishing out five assists and swiping four steals. Captain Anthony Henry (Danbury, Conn.) charted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while captain Pat Marchand (Cranston) added 15 points and seven rebounds.

“We played very well in spurts today,” said CCRI head coach Rick Harris. “The team is really starting to understand what they need to do to be successful.”

D-I Vikings topple Knights

The CCRI Knights men’s basketball team took on the Vikings of Westchester Community College from Valhalla, N.Y. in the championship game of the CCRI Holiday Classic just before the New Year. The Knights lost to the Vikings 78-61. 

The bigger and stronger Vikings rode some hot outside shooting, combined with a strong inside presence, to defeat the Knights 78-61. Westchester came out on fire, as it took an early 9-0 lead which it extended to 20 points – 30-1 – early in the first half.

However, CCRI utilized tough zone defenses to fight back into the game by closing out the half on a 16-7 run to go into the break trailing by just 11 points at 37-26. The Knights got the lead down to eight in the second half, but the Vikings superior size inside allowed them to score easy baskets to seal the victory.

CCRI was led by Henry (Danbury, Conn.), who scored 15 points with five rebounds. Marchand (Cranston) chipped-in with 11 points and two blocked shots. Point guard Billy Soriano (Providence) added 10 points and two assists and Elijah Okagbare (Atlanta, Ga.) added 10 points and seven rebounds to the Knights total.

Lady Knights lose to D-I Avengers

The CCRI Lady Knights basketball team completed their play in the ASA Holiday Classic on Dec. 29 by playing the hosting Division I powerhouse Avengers of ASA College. The Lady Knights lost a hard-fought battle with the Avengers 61-52. With the loss, CCRI fell to 8-5 on the season.  

The Lady Knights had a tough task at hand facing the Avengers, who had only lost one game all year and were big, athletic and tough on defense. The Avengers and Lady Knights battled back-and-forth during the first half. CCRI took a four point lead into halftime at 26-22, paced by the hot-shooting of captain Allexia Barros (New Bedford, Mass.), who scored 17 of her game-high 19 points in the first half while making five three-pointers. 

In the second half, ASA made it a point to deny the ball to Barros and negate her scoring output. ASA took a four-point lead 52-48 on a basket by Ekaterina Mikhaylova with 4:44 remaining, but back-to back baskets by Ahnyyah Jackson (Hackensack, N.J.) and Jesse Ossian (Chandler, Ariz.) tied the Score at 52-52 with 3:52 remaining in the game. 

However, ASA made a few key shots down the stretch to pull away, scoring the final nine points of the game.

Leading the way for the Lady Knights was Barros. She is currently leading the NJCAA in made three-pointers, making 4.2 per game with 55 three-pointers on the season. She is on pace to set new three-point standard at CCRI with 118 for her career she needs just 27 to tie the career record set by Cassie Novicky, with 145.

Also helping CCRI was Jackson, who had with 16 points, including three three-pointers. Ossian had six points, seven rebounds and seven assists and Amber Edwards (Boston, Mass.) added six points and a team-high nine rebounds. 

The next games for the Lady Knights will be when they host CCRI Invitational this weekend. Saturday they will face at Lackawanna College at 5 p.m. and Sunday they will face District rival Monroe College at 4 p.m. 

Lady Knights rip Red Hawks

The CCRI Lady Knights basketball team played in the ASA Holiday Classic two Saturdays ago, facing the Red Hawks of LaGuardia Community College. The Lady Knights defeated the Red Hawks 77-53. 

The Lady Knights bounced back from a rough outing the night before to easily defeat the Red Hawks. CCRI took a 10-point lead into halftime and was able to extend the lead in the second half and cruise to victory. The Lady Knights had three players score in double-figures in the victory, and in the process snapped a four-game losing streak.

Leading the way for the Lady Knights was Barros, who scored a game-high 29 points, including six three-pointers with seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.  Barros was helped by Ossian, who charted a double-double, scoring 18 points, including 10-of-13 shooting from the charity stripe, with 12 rebounds, seven assists, five steals and a blocked shot. 

Rounding out the CCRI attack was Jackson, who had 11 points with four assists, four steals and three rebounds. Lindsay Danise (Danbury, Conn.) added seven points while Jessica Winegar (Cranston) added six points on 2-of-2 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.