Mazzulla leads Hawks past 'Bolts on Senior Night

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 2/23/17

The Hendricken Hawks pulled away from the Cranston East Thunderbolts late to escape with a 76-65 victory at home on Tuesday evening during senior night. Hawks' senior standout Justin Mazzulla finished with 30 points while

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Mazzulla leads Hawks past 'Bolts on Senior Night

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The Hendricken Hawks pulled away from the Cranston East Thunderbolts late to escape with a 76-65 victory at home on Tuesday evening during senior night. Hawks’ senior standout Justin Mazzulla finished with 30 points while junior sensation Tyrone Weeks added 19. For East, sophomore rising star Nelvin Blanco had 23 points and junior forward Isaiah Hinds had 12.

Hendricken head coach Jamal Gomes believes that the ’Bolts can be a serious threat.

“I think Cranston East is a dangerous team,” Gomes said. “I think they have multiple players that can penetrate and shoot from the perimeter and that caused us some fits at times.”

At the same time, Gomes believes that his Hawks didn’t play their best defensive game.

“I don’t think personally for us it was one of our better defensive outings,” Gomes said. “Our past nine or 10 games, we’ve been holding teams to 45 points or less. We gave up 60-plus today. Our goal moving forward here is we’ve got to tighten up the defense going into the playoffs because you’ve got to be able to survive a night when the ball doesn’t go down. But, I’m proud of our guys. We battled.”

Weeks got Hendricken on the board first with a baseline jumper. Blanco answered with a 3 ball, earning East an early 3-2 lead. Mazzulla and Isaiah Mylers hit back-to-back bank shots to put Hendricken up 6-3. Next, sophomore Bobby Fiorito passed inside to Mazzulla for a layup to put the Hawks up five.

East responded when Sam Hanley went inside to sophomore Aireus Raspberry for a layup.

Then, Fiorito drove to the basket and lobbed a pass off the glass to a waiting Mazzulla, who caught it in mid air and laid it in while he was fouled. Mazzulla added the free throw to put Hendricken up 11-5. On Hendricken’s next possession, Mazzulla went inside to Weeks, who was fouled. The southpaw made a pair of free throws, putting the Hawks up eight. Weeks scored with an offensive putback on Hendricken’s next possession, increasing its lead to 15-5.

Raspberry then drove to the net and made a dazzling layup while he was fouled. Then, Hendricken junior Jalen Watson buried a jumper and followed it with a 3 ball his next time down to put Hendricken up 20-8. Watson finished the game with 10 points.

Raspberry kept on the attack and slashed to the basket, beating his defender and making a layup to cut it to 10. Weeks missed his next shot, but Mazzulla leaped and slammed down the putback to put the Hawks up 12. Hendricken went up 15 after Watson stole the ball from Raspberry and took it for a fast break layup.

With 2:18 left in the first frame, Hendricken held a 33-23 advantage. However, the ’Bolts began to close the gap before the break.

Hanley made a pair of free throws to make it an eight-point game. The Hawks suffered a shot clock violation on their next possession and, down the other end, Blanco scooped a shot off the glass to cut it to six. Then, Hinds swatted a shot from Hendricken’s Angel Sanchez, before East’s Wesley Feliz scored on an offensive putback to cut the deficit to 33-29. Hendricken went into the break holding only a 34-29 lead.

Mazzulla cleaned up his own miss for the first points of the second half. Next, Mylers drilled a jumper to extend the Hendricken lead to 38-29.

Shortly after, Fiorito buried a 3-pointer for Hendricken, and then East’s Hinds responded with a 3 ball of his own to make it 41-34. Next, Hanley dished to Blanco for a trey to cut it to four. Then, Raspberry stole the ball and passed ahead to Blanco, who was fouled by Sanchez. Blanco made 1-of-2 from the line, cutting it to three.

With 10:49 remaining, Hendricken got some breathing room when Weeks made a pair of free throws to put Hendricken up 47-39.

However, East battled back again. Hanley sank a 3 ball to cut it to five. On East’s next possession, Blanco buried a 3 from the top of the key to pull East within 48-45 with nine minutes to play. Then, Raspberry picked the pocket of Mazzulla and threw it ahead to Blanco, who made an old-fashioned three-point play and tied it at 48 with 8:45 left to play.

Moments later, Hendricken’s Watson buried a 3 ball to go up three. East scored a transition basket next when Raspberry grabbed a defensive board and threw a football pass to Blanco, who made a layup, pulling East within one at 53-52.

The ’Bolts took the lead when senior Anthony Wilcox assisted to Raspberry for a bucket. Hendricken turned it over on its next possession and East capitalized when senior Janzel Liberata made a pair of free throws to go up, 56-53, with 6:26 left.

Weeks buried a jumper over two defenders to cut it to one. On the Hawks’ next possession, Fiorito made a pair of free throws to take back the lead for the Hawks. Mazzulla scored with a layup next to put Hendricken up three.

Weeks finished a fast break to put the Hawks up five soon after. However, Hinds had other ideas as he hit a corner 3 to pull East within 63-61.

Hendricken finally got some separation when Mazzulla and Weeks combined for three free throws to go up five. Raspberry missed a 3-point attempt and Hendricken grabbed the defensive board, before Weeks was fouled driving to the basket. Weeks added both shots from the charity stripe and increased the Hendricken lead to 68-61. Mazzulla would make four free throws down the stretch to put Hendricken up nine. The Hawks cruised the rest of the way to a 76-65 win.

Despite the loss, East head coach Isaiah McDaniel was pleased with the way his team battled throughout the contest.

“They played a phenomenal game,” McDaniel said. “At one point, we were down almost 20 points in the first half and we fought back and I think it was under 10 at halftime. To come back and take a lead in the second half against a team like Hendricken, it shows a lot about my group of guys. It’s a good time to start clicking and playing good basketball and I think we’re there right now.”

Though Hendricken pulled out the win, Mazzulla doesn’t think it was Hendricken’s best offensive effort.

“It wasn’t a good offensive night for the whole team,” Mazzulla said. “They threw a lot of junk defenses at me, I had to learn how to play them and adapt to playing them, so I just did what I had to do to get the win.”

Hendricken plays Classical on Thursday night, and if it wins, it locks up the No. 1 seed. East will play a playoff game on Friday, but the opponent and location is unknown at this time.

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