At times last season, the Toll Gate boys’ basketball team started five seniors, posting a 10-6 record in Division III.

With the veterans on the team logging so many minutes a season ago, that left several question marks heading into this season – not to mention the Titans moved up to Division II in the offseason due to the consolidation with Warwick schools, adding more unknowns to those question marks.

But, it appears as though the Titans have reloaded and have a fresh group of players who are ready to excel in their new roles.

Led by junior point guard Damien Mendoza, who posted a game-high 15 points to go along with five steals, Toll Gate powered past North Smithfield, 64-30, in a non-league matchup on Tuesday evening.

Mendoza was one of four players in double figures for Toll Gate, which featured a balanced scoring attack.

Sophomore guard Brandon Scott netted nine of his 13 points in the second half while just narrowly missing a double-double with nine rebounds. Vets transfer Joe Gionti chipped in with 11 points and junior forward Brandon Fogarty posted 10 points and six boards. Senior Aidan Estrella also just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

“Those five or six guys are definitely my scorers,” Toll Gate head coach Tom Rayko said of his team’s balanced scoring performance. “We have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket. I would say that Damien Mendoza and Scott are going to be the two biggest scorers out of that, but Joe Gionti is another guy off the bench who can fill up the scoring column.”

The Titans started the first half on a 5-0 run, and a couple of minutes later, Estrella hit the offensive glass for a rebound and putback to give the Titans an 11-5 advantage.

Gionti made his presence known right away off the bench with 7:20 to go in the half with an offensive rebound and lay-in of his own to make it 15-10, before North Smithfield sophomore guard Steven Goulet buried a 3 to trim his team’s deficit to 15-13.

That was as close as the Northmen would get, however.

A Mendoza steal and layup pushed Toll Gate’s lead out to 26-13, and Estrella picked off a pass and dished ahead to Mendoza for another uncontested layup with 35 seconds remaining in the half.

Mendoza looks as though he’s ready to fill the shoes of Austin Giard, Toll Gate’s senior point guard from a season ago, who did a little bit of everything for the Titans. Mendoza proved that he can score, pass and defend in an impressive performance against North Smithfield.

“Damien’s been doing great,” Rayko said. “Last year was a big learning curve for him, it was his first year on the team. He learned a lot and played with a great team in front of him. He got a lot of experience in some close games and had a great playoff run. He spent a lot of time in the offseason working on his game. He can shoot a little better and is getting some good looks. The addition of Brandon Scott coming up is huge too. He can shoot, so that opens the floor up.”

In all, Toll Gate ended the half on a 16-7 run, giving it a 31-20 lead at the break.

And the Titans carried that momentum into the second half, as they posted an 18-0 run that covered the first six minutes, 50 seconds of the half.

Estrella grabbed the ball in the post and fed Scott, who cut to the basket to start the scoring.

Three and a half minutes in, Mendoza pushed the lead to 41-20 when he drove the lane and stopped on a dime before spinning and floating a shot in.

Over the 18-0 run, Toll Gate took care of the ball on offense and was flawless on defense, pressuring the ball carrier into mistakes to create transition opportunities.

“More so just cleaning up some of the sloppy play we had,” Rayko said about what his team did differently over that 18-0 stretch. “I think we played the same kind of defense, but we turned the ball over just being messy on offense (in the first half).”

Toll Gate would go on to outscore North Smithfield 33-10 in the second half, giving the Titans some confidence as they prepare for league play.

They’ll open their D-II slate with a tough test against Johnston, which posted the top regular-season record in D-III last season, at Toll Gate at 7 p.m. tonight.

“I expect a lot of close games, which is good in order to make the program better,” Rayko said of what he expects with his team making the jump from D-III to D-II. “D-II is always strong competition. There are no off games.”