A lot of people thought that this was the year that the Bishop Hendricken basketball team would come back down to earth; that this was the year the Hawks’ cupboard was bare and the program’s run of six consecutive state championships would come to an end. They were waiting with bated breath.

They’re still waiting.

Hendricken, playing down one starter, dismantled East Providence on Tuesday night. The Hawks fell behind 16-6 in the first five minutes but rallied to lead by as many as 25 points in the second half. The team rested its starters down the stretch and still held on for the 83-62 victory, improving its record to 6-0 in Division I. And they’re just getting started.

“I thought it was an outstanding performance,” Hendricken head coach Jamal Gomes said. “Especially considering we were without one of our best players, Ryan Palumbo, who is a real defensive catalyst for us. But I thought that our guys’ mental toughness was tremendous.”

The Hawks undoubtedly missed Palumbo on the defensive end, where they battled to contain East Providence guard Donald Williams, but Hendricken didn’t seem to miss a beat on offense. Seniors Bryan Vachon and Nick Manning stepped up to lead the charge, combining to give the Hawks a potent 1-2 punch.

Vachon was hot from the start, knocking down three three-pointers in a one-minute stretch in the first half. His sharp shooting helped Hendricken erase its early deficit and gave the Hawks a lead they wouldn’t give back.

Manning was a little slower to get into the offensive mix, netting five points in the first half, but he went on a one-man scoring spree after the break. He scored 10 consecutive points for Hendricken in the early going to break the game open.

The duo played well off of each other, penetrating to draw in the defense before kicking the ball to the open man for an uncontested shot. Their slashing style and precision shooting keyed Hendricken’s offense, which shot nearly 60 percent from the floor.

“Nick and I have been playing together since we were 10 or 11 years old on AAU,” Vachon said. “And we’ve been together at Hendricken for the past three years, so we’re really comfortable playing together. We always know where each other is on the court, we can penetrate and kick for open shots and we’re always looking for each other.”

“It’s all about ball penetration and finding the open player,” Manning said. “When we can open up the offense like that, that’s when we’re playing our best.”

Vachon scored a game-high 32 points and Manning poured in 17 in the second half to finish with 22. They accounted for eight of Hendricken’s 10 three-pointers in the contest, Steve Bevilacqua drained the other two, and the Hawks shot a scorching 55 percent from behind the arc. Hendricken was even better from the free-throw line, where it converted on 11 of 12 attempts.

“We did an outstanding job of shooting the ball and scoring,” Gomes said. “Manning and Vachon both had great games and their leadership and consistency was a huge key to our success.”

Hendricken got it done on the defensive end as well. The Hawks were sluggish at first, giving up 16 points in the first five minutes of play, but they found a rhythm as the game unfolded. Williams picked apart Hendricken’s defense early and scored 12 of the Townies’ first 20 points. He had 15 at halftime but some quick Hendricken adjustments limited Williams to just seven points after the break.

The Hawks utilized a handful of different defenses in the second half, each designed to slow East Providence’s advance and limit Williams’ touches. The plan worked. Hendricken pressed, trapped and harassed the Townies into committing 19 turnovers in the game.

“Williams is a good, quick guard,” Gomes said. “He can slice and get inside the defense and we wanted to slow him down. We extended our defense to slow him down and try to get the ball out of his hands. And it worked in the second half.”

If the Hawks had one shortcoming, it was their play under the basket. East Providence benefited from excellent offensive rebounding and scored a handful of second-chance baskets but, on the occasions the Hawks were off the mark, they didn’t get the same chances on their own end.

And while Vachon and Manning were offensive sparks from both mid-range and long distance, the Hawks’ didn’t establish a presence in the post.

“We’ve been talking about attacking angles,” Gomes said. “We want to get shots closer to the basket. We don’t want to just be a perimeter-oriented team because, when those types of teams aren’t shooting well, they lose. We have to focus on getting the ball inside, attacking with penetration and getting the ball to our big guys.”

Junior Tim Lyons finished with eight points for Hendricken, Bevilacqua and Pat Doyle each recorded six and Rory Temkin contributed four.

“We’ve got 11 new guys on the team this year,” Gomes said. “They’ve taken some time to develop, but they’re really coming along. It’s been a day-by-day learning process. We’ve got new faces still trying to figure out the pace and the style of the game but that’s OK. We just want things to be clicking in time to come together at the end of the season. We want to be at our best in late February.”

The Hawks have lost a pair of out-of-state games so far this season but, in their league schedule, they remain the only undefeated team in Division I. Hendricken will put that unblemished mark on the line Friday when it hosts South Kingstown [4-3] at 7 p.m. The Hawks will take on Chariho [3-4] and Exeter/West Greenwich [0-7] next week.

“We have to continue to improve,” Gomes said. “We have to keep getting better every single time we step on the floor. The kids are working hard and there’s a lot of potential, but we’re really not that good yet. Our meter, right now, is at about 30 percent. Our goal is to get it to 100.”

That sentiment, which should serve to put the rest of Division I on notice, isn’t lost on the Hendricken players.

“We’re know that we’re not where we want to be yet,” Manning said. “We have a lot to work on. We have to get the big men involved more, but we’ll get around to it. We just have to keep playing as a team and we have to keep working hard. And being the defending state champs, we have a big target on our backs; even bigger than last year I think. We can’t afford to rest.”