East Providence's Fiorito focuses on lifting Hawks to more hoops titles

City native leads Hendricken’s pursuit of D-I, Open State championships

By Mike Rego
Posted 1/18/19

EAST PROVIDENCE — City product and Bishop Hendricken High School senior boys’ basketball standout Bobby Fiorito appears to truly be saving his best for last, not that the first three years of his …

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East Providence's Fiorito focuses on lifting Hawks to more hoops titles

City native leads Hendricken’s pursuit of D-I, Open State championships

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — City product and Bishop Hendricken High School senior boys’ basketball standout Bobby Fiorito appears to truly be saving his best for last, not that the first three years of his career on the Hawks’ preeminent squad were none too shabby in the least.

Fiorito, a 6-foot-1, 165-pound guard, entered Hendricken’s eventual victory over his hometown East Providence side last week as the team’s leading scorer in Division I play. The Hawks improved to 8-0 in the league and 12-0 overall with their dominant 65-52 win. Fiorito scored 17 points, upping his D-I points per game average to 14.9.

“Bobby is one of our leaders. He’s having a great season so far,” said long-time Hendricken head coach Jamal Gomes. “He’s been with me for four years. I’m very proud of his effort every day in practice. We’re off to a great start and it’s largely because of his leadership and play out on the floor.

‘This is his time to shine. One of the things about Bobby, there are a lot of things about Bobby, he steps up in big games. He’s been doing that since he was a freshman, really. But I’m just really proud of his effort so far this season, and we just hope it continues into the playoffs as well.”

The Hawks’ unblemished start has included non-league wins over Massachusetts schools Burke, of Dorchester, Bridgewater-Raynham and Brighton as well as an impressive 61-57 victory over traditional New York power Mt. Vernon in an invitational game on Long Island in late December.

Fiorito credited his personal success to date to his off-season regime, and he’s appreciative of this version of the Hawks being off to one of the best-ever starts in the program’s storied history.

“Working out every day during the summer with Coach (Brett) Kearns, our assistant, has helped me out a lot to progress, helped me improve my game this season,” Fiorito explained. “And as a team, I’m completely proud of how far we’ve come. I think it’s one of the greatest starts for a Hendricken team in a long time.”

The Hawks have won a record 17 state titles dating back to the 1978-79 season. That run includes the last three Open Tourney championships and four of the last five. Hendricken and rival LaSalle are the only two programs to date to pull off the newfound “double” of separately winning both the D-I and Open titles in the same season since the latter was created to conclude the 2010-11 campaign. Fiorito and the Hawks accomplished the feat during his sophomore year, 2016-17, when he was named the Open most valuable player after scoring 21 points in the title game win over Shea.

Of his decision to attend Hendricken after going to middle school at Providence Country Day in city, Fiorito explained, “I mean, I just felt it was going to be a good fit for me because I really like to play defense and I’m really into winning. And I knew Hendricken always had that in their program and I grew up watching them play games, (state) tournaments. And I always wanted to play in that atmosphere. I thought it was the best fit for me, with a great coach. Coach Gomes, you can’t get better than him.”

The coach, who has strong East Providence familial ties, was just as effusive in praise of his player.

“It’s been a steady progression every year for Bobby. He seems to play his best when we need it the most. I’ve seen that every year he’s progressed to where he’s now playing on a consistent basis at a very high level,” Gomes said. “Again, I’m very proud of his effort, his intensity throughout his entire career. I’m very blessed to have been able to coach a guy like this. He plays with his heart and his soul and that’s all we can ask…I’m expecting a great rest of this season, a great rest of his senior year.”

Fiorito learned and enhanced his game by starting out here with the St. Martha’s CYO program, then playing at the AAU level for the Rhode Island Breakers and most recently the Rhode Island Crush. He’s also spent time with the Nike Elite Expressions out of Boston.

In his words “It’s just from the gym, being in there every day working…I’ve just tried to play as much basketball as I possibly could.”

Where he continues his basketball career, and it is certain to continue, is still to be determined. He said he’s under no pressure, no artificial deadlines to make a decision.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” Fiorito added. “Prep school is always an option. I’m going to keep all my options open, but as of right now, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. There’s a few schools looking at me, some low D-Is, high D-IIs. If I’m going to go D-II, I was trying to find a school in Florida, but St. Michael’s (Vermont) is looking at me, Franklin Pierce (New Hampshire), some other NE-10 (Northest) schools. That’s a really good conference, so we’ll see what happens.

“Obviously, growing up as a kid everyone wants to play Division I, but as far as I can go, with the best fit, that’s what I want to see happen.”

Gomes said his star senior has almost every tool necessary to be successful in college no matter his eventual choice.

“I think he’s got a lot of gifts. He’s got great athleticism, an ability to score the basketball,” Gomes added. “I think at the next level it’s also about decision making, making the right decisions on the floor. And I think that’s the next step for Bobby, is consistently making the great decisions. I tell him, the fundamental play is the great play, the fundamental play is the great play. I think he’s going to end up doing what he chooses to do, go as far as he wants based on the effort and understanding the decisions you make on the floor can carry you wherever you want to go next.”

Upon personal reflection, Fiorito said he needs to get better defensively as he prepares to play in college.

“At the next level, I’ll probably play the one or the two. Right now, I play between the one, two, three, four. We have so many guys that can handle the ball, (Hendricken teammates) Angel Sanchez, Andre De Los Santos, Sebastian Thomas, we have a bunch of guys,” he said. “I feel I’ve had a great season shooting the ball from the field, my pull-up jumper. I feel like I have to improve more on my quickness on defense…I just have to want it more on defense.”

What Fiorito desires above than anything else from his final high school season is for the Hawks to add a few more banners to their record haul of championships.

“To win both D-I and the Open,” he said when asked about his and the Hawks’ aims are for 2018-19. “That’s it. That’s the goal.”

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MIKE REGO

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.