Behind Rosa, Hawks move into first

Matt Metcalf
Posted 2/10/15

The much anticipated Hendricken-Barrington match-up in Division I hoops didn’t disappoint on Sunday afternoon.

In its first season since moving up to D-I, Barrington has been dominant, coming …

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Behind Rosa, Hawks move into first

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The much anticipated Hendricken-Barrington match-up in Division I hoops didn’t disappoint on Sunday afternoon.

In its first season since moving up to D-I, Barrington has been dominant, coming into Sunday’s game with a perfect 11-0 record.

Hendricken, the defending state champion, came in at 11-1, second to only the Eagles in the standings.

Barrington led by two at the half and thanks in large part to a 7-0 run to start the second half, the Eagles looked to be on their way to their twelfth-straight league win.

But the Hawks didn’t go away quietly, responding with a 9-0 run of their own. After the first two minutes of the second half, Hendricken was sparked by Dmitri Rosa, who scored 15 second-half points, as he knocked down four shots from long distance and also converted an and-1.

“Dmitri can do that,” Hendricken coach Jamal Gomes said. “He can score in bunches. I had to yell at him at halftime because he wasn’t playing defense, but you saw what he can do. He can single-handedly break open a game. Fortunately for us, he had a good night, but his teammates looked for him too.”

Hendricken was able to hold off a late surge from Barrington to hang on for a 61-55 win.

The victory pushed the Hawks’ record to 12-1, while the Eagles fell to 11-1. Hendricken now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Barrington if each team wins the rest of their games.

Despite the loss, Barrington certainly proved why it has been so tough this season.

The Eagles came out not looking intimidated at all, scoring the first five points of the game.

Hendricken would settle in, as the two teams traded blows for the duration of the first half.

While Corey Daugherty, Barrington’s leading scorer, led his team with nine first-half points, Hendricken’s top scorers struggled to find nylon.

But freshman Preston Santos picked up his teammates in the first half, leading all scorers with 10 of Hendricken’s 24 points.

Gomes was very pleased with the play of his first-year standout, as Santos finished the game with 16 points and played all 32 minutes in the win.

“You see the tremendous potential that he has and he’s still learning,” Gomes said of Santos.

The Hawks were a bit sloppy with the ball in the first half, turning the ball over 11 times.

But while the Hawks struggled at times, their compete-level was always there.

“I was actually pleased with the way we played in the first half because the effort, energy and enthusiasm was there,” Gomes said. “I just told them at halftime that the intelligence wasn’t there, so we had to give them some reminders about taking care of the basketball.”

Hendricken didn’t start the second half the way that it planned.

Daugherty sank a three and then a made a layup on a strong drive to the hoop in the first minute.

Over the first two minutes after the break, the Eagles put together a 7-0 run to take a 33-24 lead.

However, with the game seeming to get out of hand a bit, Gomes took a timeout.

After that, Hendricken took control of the game, answering with a 9-0 run.

At the eight minute mark, Rosa dialed in from long distance to tie the game, 38-38.

Just over a minute later, Justin Mazzulla broke free after a steal and threw down an emphatic dunk, giving the Hawks a 42-40 lead – their first of the game.

Rosa increased Hendricken’s lead to five, hitting another one of his four 3’s in the second half with six minutes to go in the game.

Barrington cut the game to two points, 52-50, with less than two minutes remaining, but Ira Lough drained a jumper to make it a two-possession game after a nice feed from point guard Kyle Henseler.

Daugherty missed on a drive to the hoop on the other end in an attempt to cut the game to two points again, and Santos came down with a critical rebound.

The Hawks sank their free throws in the final minute to secure the win.

It was undoubtedly the best league win of the season for Hendricken, as it had to overcome adversity to beat a great team.

“Barrington is a phenomenal team,” Gomes said. “They’re disciplined and they have balance in all areas.”

Hendricken had three scorers in double-figures in the win – Rosa had a game-high 18, while Santos scored 16 and Mazzulla finished with 13.

Daugherty scored a team-high 16 points for the Eagles and Kevin Mannix scored nine points, while grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds.

Despite how good the game was, it took a backseat to what the afternoon was really about.

All proceeds from the game went to the Project Unify program of Special Olympics Rhode Island. Daugherty, an avid volunteer, orchestrated the game at Brown to highlight SORI.

Barrington and Hendricken’s unified teams played a touching 10-minute exhibition at the half and everything went as well as expected, making it an all-around great afternoon.

After the game, Gomes couldn’t have been prouder of Daugherty for taking the initiative to make it happen.

“I can’t say enough about Daugherty,” Gomes said. “A high school kid put this together, so I told him how proud I was of him. Part of being a great player is not just what you do on the court, it’s your character off the court as well. That kid has some great character.”

The Hawks will have another tough test on Tuesday night. They’ll host 9-3 Smithfield at Pepin Gymnasium at 7 p.m.

Although Hendricken got the best of Barrington this time around, Gomes had a feeling that Sunday wouldn’t be the last time his team would see the Eagles.

“We’ll most likely see them again eventually,” Gomes said. “When we do, it’ll be another battle. Fortunately, tonight it worked out for us.”

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