Knights Emerge Victorious over DII Vikings 88-52!

11.08.21

Warwick, R.I. – November 8, 2021: The CCRI Knights Men’s Basketball Team concluded hosting the 2021 CCRI Tip-off Tournament by hosting the Division II Vikings of Mercer County Community College from West Winsor Township, NJ. The Knights defeated the Vikings 88-52. With the victory CCRI improves to 1-1 on the season.

For the second day in a row the Knights faced a familiar opponent in the Vikings of Mercer County. The Knights and Vikings usually play very close games however, this game was going to be the coming out party for the 2021-22 CCRI Knights squad. CCRI was coming off a tough three point loss to the No. 10 ranked Lions of Nassau County and they did not want their season to begin 0-2. With a balanced attack that saw 13 Knights reach the scoring column combined with a tremendous defensive effort by CCRI the Knights cruised to an 88-52 victory over the Division II Vikings of Mercer County.

The Knights were firing on all cylinders of Sunday led by freshman Forward Levi King (Westerly, RI) who scored the first 11 points for CCRI. The Division II Vikings were not going to just roll over and give up, they battled the Knights closely for most of the first half. Defensively, the Knights were playing at a much higher level than their game on Saturday and this intensified pressure allowed for CCRI to take a 35-26 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half the Knights picked-up right where they had left off as they were quickly able to extend their lead to 20 points. The big lead allowed for Head Coach Rick Harris to utilize his bench mob to get them some valuable game minutes. The bench mob entered the game and never let the level of play drop-off as they forced turnovers and made shots from all over the court both from 3-pointland and by penetrating to the rim. Before you knew it, the game ended with CCRI wining 88-52.

Leading the way for CCRI was freshman Center Levi King with his first Double-Double in a CCRI uniform scoring 17 points while ripping down 11 boards and adding one assist. King was assisted by sophomore Forward Mitchell Noresca (East Providence, RI) who charted his second Double-double in two days scoring 10 points with 11 rebounds and adding two blocked shots. It was Noresca’s 23^rd Double-Double of his career. RJ Pina (East Providence, RI) had eight points with one rebound while freshman forward Michael Resnick (Gloucester, RI) had seven points six rebounds and an assist. Leading the bench mob scorers was Theo Jadotte (Providence, RI) with eight points, four rebounds and an assist. Jared Downing (Woonsocket, RI) with eight points and two assists. Tyler Lima (East Providence, RI) added eight points, two steals and an assist.

The next game for the Knights will be their first Region XXI contest when they travel to Holyoke, MA Tuesday evening to play Holyoke Community College at 7:00pm.

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The Community College of Rhode Island, New England’s largest comprehensive community college, enrolls nearly 10,000 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.