The CCRI Knights men’s basketball team hosted LaGuardia CC on Saturday in a non-region matchup. Freshman tri-captain Joe Santiago (Willimantic, Conn.) was able to give the Knights a 64-63 lead after he connected on a game-winning mid-range jump shot with 1.3 seconds left. The Knights held on for the last second and won the game, putting their record at 6-3 on the young season.

CCRI and LaGuardia battled back and forth all game and the first half was just about as close as a game can be. The teams were tied at multiple times in the half and neither team could seem to hold a lead. The Knights managed to go into the half with a 34-31 advantage with a made 3-point shot in the final few seconds.

The Knights maintained a lead most of the half, but their largest lead was only eight at any point, allowing LaGuardia to hang around. CCRI stayed tough and fought to keep its lead, but in a flash LaGuardia quickly took the lead, 63-60, with less than a minute to go. Freshman Elijah Vazquez (Woonsocket, R.I.) hit a jumper for the Knights to cut the lead to one with roughly 40 seconds to go. The Knights’ defense stopped LaGuardia on the next possession to get the ball back with about seven seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds play, Santiago was able to find some room right around the foul line where he pulled up and knocked down a jumper to give the Knights a 64-63 advantage with 1.3 seconds left on the clock. Tri-captain Edvaldo Ferreira (Cape Verde) was able to deflect and steal the inbounds pass by LaGuardia to seal the win for the Knights.

Ferreira was dominant for the Knights once again and continues to put up incredible numbers. He finished Saturday’s game with 15 points, 20 rebounds and nine blocks, just short of a triple-double. Ferreira also added a steal and four assists. With the nine blocks, Ferreira adds to his NJCAA D-II leading totals and now averages 4.9 per game. Not only is he first in blocks per game in the country, but also is second in rebounds per game with 14.4. He has posted double digit rebound numbers in every game he has played and Saturday was the third time already this season that he has had more than 10 offensive rebounds in a game.

Vazquez and Adrian La Fleur (Sydney, Australia) both connected on three 3-pointers in the game as they both finished with double-digit points – Vazquez had 13 and La Fleur had 11. Cranston native Mike DeJesus finished with 10 points, going 4-for-4 from the free throw line for the Knights. Josh Mann (Detroit, Mich.) also added six points, seven rebounds and two blocks on the day.

Head Coach Rick Harris had this to say after the win: “Great overall team victory. We’ve been dedicating more practice time to special situations in practice and it was nice to see us execute down the stretch. Hopefully we can keep this level of work in practice, for our upcoming game Thursday.”

CCRI was set to be back in action on Saturday night against Springfield Tech, but results were unavailable at press time.

Lady Knights fall to No. 22 ASA

The CCRI Lady Knights traveled to ASA College in Brooklyn, N.Y., to play the No. 22-ranked (NJCAA D-I poll) and undefeated (8-0) Division I powerhouse Avengers in an interdivisional matchup. The Lady Knights lost to the Avengers 95-48. With the loss, the Lady Knights fall to 6-7 on the season.   

The Lady Knights knew they were going to be in for a very tough game. First they only had five available players for the contest and second they were playing a very tough, undefeated nationally ranked Division I squad. The game played out mostly as expected with ASA jumping out to a 24-12 lead after one quarter. The Avengers extended their lead to 22 points by half and never looked back as they went on to win by the final count of 95-48.

Leading the way for the Lady Knights was Kennethah Harden (Roosevelt, N.Y.) who charted her 10th double-double of the year with 26 points, including two 3-pointers with 11 rebounds.  Harden was helped by Alexis Antonacci (Plainview, N.Y.) with 10 points, including a 3-pointer with three assists and three steals, while Maritza Gustave (Fall River, Mass.) added 10 points also with two 3-pointers.

The next games for the Lady Knights will be this weekend when they travel to Batavia, N.Y., to compete in the Cougar Holiday Classic. Saturday they will face Niagara County CC at 1 p.m. and Sunday they will face the hosting Cougars of Genesee CC.