Hendricken was projected to be in for a tough test on Tuesday night, welcoming East Providence, which sat just one game behind the Hawks in the Division I standings.

But, the Hawks turned what was supposed to be a battle between two of the top teams in the state into a rout, as they dominated from start to finish to earn their seventh straight victory, 67-37.

Hendricken was able to rattle East Providence with a smothering full-court press from the jump, turning defense to offense frequently to make the Townies’ deficit insurmountable by halftime.

“We’ve just been working hard in practice and we’ve been getting better every day,” Hendricken head coach Jamal Gomes said following the win. “We’re improving in particular on defense. We came out with great defensive energy, effort and enthusiasm. When we do that, we’re a tough team.”

East Providence didn’t have an answer for Justin Mazzulla and Tyrone Weeks in the first half.

Mazzulla sent an inbounds pass to Weeks for a baseline jumper early in the half to give the Hawks a 4-1 edge.

Less than a minute later, Weeks hit the offensive glass before dishing to Mazzulla for an easy 2, giving Hendricken a 7-1 lead and triggering East Providence head coach Joe Andrade to call a timeout.

The momentum didn’t change out of the timeout, however.

Consecutive steal-and-scores from Mazzulla and Weeks pushed the advantage out to 11, 14-3, and a Jalen Watson corner 3 a couple minutes later inflated the margin on the scoreboard even further.

East Providence junior forward Deyshawn Tengbeh was the only Townie who was having any success at the offensive end in the first half, as he converted an and-1 with 5:52 left to trim the deficit to 25-15.

Weeks answered with a pair of jumpers to push the Hawks’ lead out to 17, though, and a steal and emphatic dunk by Mazzulla with 1:40 to go made it 38-17.

Bobby Fiorito and Mazzulla added buckets in the final minute to give the Hawks a commanding, 42-19 lead at the break.

That lead would only grow in the second half.

Mazzulla grabbed an offensive rebound early and netted a putback, before a 3 from Weeks increased the lead to 50-23.

By the midway point of the second half, Mazzulla and Weeks went to the bench with the game well in hand.

Dan Kennedy compiled seven points off the bench in the final minutes of the game to help secure the 30-point rout for Hendricken.

Mazzulla finished with a game-high 20 points to go along with seven boards, while Weeks posted 15 points and five steals.

“I think this was our most total effort, where we put 32 minutes together,” Gomes said. “I thought our first half was outstanding, and we didn’t let up in the second half.”

The division playoffs are rapidly approaching for the Hawks, who have just four regular season games remaining against Classical, Central, Hope and Cranston East.

Hendricken will be back in action on Friday night when it travels to take on the Purple (6-7) at 7 p.m. It will be back at home on Tuesday to oppose Central (3-10) at 7 p.m., as well.

The Hawks are now tied for first place in the state rankings at 12-2 after La Salle defeated St. Ray’s, 60-52, on Tuesday, giving the Saints their second loss in league play.

The Saints handed Hendricken its most lopsided loss of the season, but the two teams seem to be trending in opposite directions.

St. Ray’s has lost two of its last three games after starting its season 11-0.

Adversely, the Hawks are winners of their last seven games and are undoubtedly peaking at the right time of the season.

“Right down the line, everyone stepped up and contributed tonight,” Gomes said. “That’s going to be the key to our success – it’s going to be teamwork, it’s going to be defense and it’s going to be execution. If we do that, we’re going to be tough heading into the playoffs.”