The Mt. Hope High School boys' basketball team continued to set the pace atop the revamped Division III standings with its play over the last week, upping its most recent winning streak to four.
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(Updated, Feb. 5, 11 a.m.) The Mt. Hope High School boys' basketball team continued to set the pace atop the revamped Division III standings with its play over the last week, upping its most recent winning streak to four.
Mt. Hope improved to 12-4 overall following a dominating 60-42 road victory over Exeter-West Greenwich on January 31 and a 68-59 win over Davies Voc also away on February 3.
The Huskies are the top-ranked club in the league's new power rankings system with Ponaganset, Toll Gate and Times2 Academy in pursuit.
"We want to finish strong. We want to finish first," Mt. Hope head coach Jeff Grifka said of the race for the top spot in the league. "There's going to be a lot of movement in terms of the other three teams with us. Many of them are playing each other. We were able to schedule a lot of those games up front."
The Huskies played and beat their three closest pursuers earlier in the year. The locals have four regular season games remaining, including Senior Night at home against Blackstone Valley Prep Friday, Feb. 7, at 5:15 p.m.
Against the Scarlet Knights, locals never trailed after Matt MacDougall drained a 3-pointer early in the first quarter. They led 16-13 at the end of the period, then 31-21 at intermission.
Mt. Hope blew the game open in the third, taking a 48-32 lead into the fourth. The Huskies' edge grew to a high of 59-38 with about two minutes to go after a Jacob Tamke steal and outlet pass to Lucas Andreozzi for a fastbreak layup.
MacDougall paced a balanced Mt. Hope attack with 14 points, Jack Thompson had 12, Maleaq Roderick 11 and Andreozzi eight.
In Lincoln against Davies, Mt. Hope built another large lead en route to a rather comfortable victory, this time 44-28 by the break.
MacDougall and Roderick shared team-high scoring honors with 18 apiece. Thompson added 11 and Andreozzi 10.
"We’ve kept the intensity up on defense. Transition points have been a huge help as well," Grifka said of his team's play of late.
The Mt. Hope girls' cagers, meanwhile, remain well within the Division II playoff power rankings despite suffering a pair of close losses on the road in the few days.
The Huskies fell to 8-6 in games that are included in the rankings formula following a 37-35 loss in Newport to Rogers on January 30 and then suffering a 43-38 setback to the host Lions in Lincoln on February 3.
Foul trouble and turnovers plagued the locals in the first loss to the Vikings, according to Mt. Hope head coach Katie Kline.
Against Lincoln, the Huskies trailed for most of the first half before using a 10-0 run to cut their deficit to 23-21 at intermission.
The Lions remained on top 29-28 at the end of the third quarter. Mt. Hope did briefly take a lead early in the fourth quarter on an Emily Moran steal and Maddy Butterworth's ensuing layup. But Lincoln scored the next six points to regain the advantage for keeps.
Moran led the locals with 15 points. Lilly DaSilveira added 11. Hailey Ferreira had four, Aubrey Cummings and Catherine Frawley three each and Butterworth two.
Make that three losses in a row for the Huskies after they dropped a 45-36 decision to host Scituate Tuesday night, Feb. 4.
Moran led all scorers with 21 points. DaSilveira chipped in nine. Ferreira had four and Butterworth two.