Knights Defense Bog Down Buccaneers in 80-59 Win!

11.22.19

Warwick, R.I. – November 22, 2019: The CCRI Knights men’s basketball team hosted the MassBay Community College Buccaneers Thursday night. The Knights defense held a typically high intensity Buccaneers’ offense quiet and strolled to an 80-59 victory. The win improves their season record to 5-2 record overall and 4-0 in Region XXI play.

The Buccaneers came into Thursday’s game on the back of a four-game winning streak and looked to continue their impressive Region XXI campaign. The Knights headed into the Vincent A. Cullen Field House with a three-game winning streak themselves and were vying to remain perfect in Region XXI play.

The game started well for CCRI, a combination of impressive defensive pressure and perimeter shooting grew the first half lead by the minute. Sophomore Dylan Durante (Johnston, RI) led the way draining four three-pointers in the first half and accruing 14 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Buccaneers were held to just 25 first half points and trailed the Knights by 18, 43-25 as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

CCRI knew that the key to any prospective MassBay comeback was the offensive prowess of sophomore Javaris Hill. Hill combines the speed and dribbling ability of a guard with the strength and power of a forward perfectly. Even while playing incredibly tight defense, Hill scored a game high 28 points. However, it could have easily been 40 or more had he been given more space.

Defensive specialist freshman Logan Grosek (Yarmouth, MA) was employed to slow down the power of Hill and did well, recording an important six rebounds, four points and two blocks. The Knights stole the ball 15 times and kept the Buccaneers’ offense out of sync for large parts of the game. The balance of offense and defense on the part of CCRI gave the team perhaps their best performance of the season.

The Buccaneers scored 34 points in the second half, an improvement on their first half performance of 25. Yet the Knights continued to push their advantage in the open court, using their passing to find the open man for uncontested jumpers. With 10 minutes left in the game, CCRI held a 21-point lead, 63-42 over MassBay and that gap would hold until the final buzzer. CCRI would win the game with relative ease 80-59.

The offense was led by birthday boy Dylan Durante as he went 7-11 from three-point land, scoring a team leading 23 points with one steal and one rebound. Freshman Mikey Gamble (Hartford, CT) tallied 17 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals. Freshman Mitchel Noresca (East Providence, RI) ripped down a team leading 10 rebounds with eight points, one assist and one block. Freshman Reece Bullock (Coventry, RI) chipped in nine points, four rebounds, one steal and one block. Freshman Steve DelSesto (North Providence, RI) came off the bench to provide eight points, two steals, one rebound and one assist.

Head Coach Rick Harris commented: “Nice to see the young men play more of a complete game tonight. We got off to a good start and once we got into our active defensive pressure game Mass Bay’s turnovers led to more scoring opportunities for us. It was also nice to have Dylan Durante shooting the three ball tonight like he did (seven threes). It really opened up the rest of our offense. Happy for him as it was his birthday and many of his family members were in attendance. We will now move on to Saturday’s game against Quinsigamond, another tough region game.”

The CCRI Knights men’s basketball team will next be in action on Saturday, November 23rd at 3:00 p.m. as they host the Quinsigamond Community College Wyverns.

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The Community College of Rhode Island, New England's largest comprehensive community college, enrolls nearly 15,000 students in credit courses and thousands more in non-credit and job training classes. Its athletic program boasts 12 varsity programs and an academic support program for all student-athletes.