The CCRI men’s basketball team traveled to Springfield, Massachusetts, to take on the Rams of Springfield Tech Community College in a Region XXI Interdivision battle on Tuesday night. The Knights started out strong and were able to control the game en route to an easy victory of 106-63. The victory brings the team’s record to 16-8 overall and 8-1 in Region XXI.

The Knights came out of the gate firing, hitting their first four shots. Two of these shots were 3-pointers by Adrian La Fleur (Sydney, Australia), starting his way to a big night.

At the same time, the Knights’ defense was stepping up and stopping any scoring by the Rams. As a result, the Knights were able to open up an 11-point lead with only two minutes gone in the game.

Springfield Tech was able to make a small run, and cut the lead to six at 17-11. The Knights stepped up their defense again, and were able to hold the Rams to only 15 points for the rest of the half. The Knights continued to score and extended the lead by halftime to 22 points at 48-26.

The second half was the same story as the first for the Knights, who continued to play lockdown defense. 

Head Coach Rick Harris has worked the players hard to implement strong defense, and it has been paying off over this recent winning streak. The Knights’ defense was able to hold the Rams to only 37 points in the second half and 63 for the game. 

The Knights’ offense continued to score and was able to net over double their halftime score, putting up 58 points in the second half, good for 106 on the game.

The Knights were led by La Fleur, who charted a monumental double-double, scoring a game-high 20 points and draining a game-high six 3-pointers to go with a career-high 12 assists while adding six rebounds. Grant Gillis (Jamestown, Rhode Island) was the next-highest scorer with 18 points on eight made shots with six rebounds. Elijah Vazquez (Woonsocket, Rhode Island) went 6-of-7 from the floor and 3-of-4 on 3-pointers to score 15 points. Kevin Paygai (West Warwick, Rhode Island) scored 12 points while assisting on seven Knights’ baskets and adding five steals. Jordan Jones (Worcester, Massachusetts) scored 11 points on five shots, shooting 100 percent (5-of-5) from the field on the night.

Harris was very proud of the team’s performance. He really enjoyed seeing the team play as a whole, as it assisted on 34 of the 43 baskets scored on the night.

“We did what we had to do tonight in preparation for a tough game at Massasoit on Thursday,” Harris said.