Knights Subdue Southern Maine 71-65!

01.07.19

Warwick, R.I. – January 7, 2019: The CCRI Knights men's basketball hosted the Seawolves of Southern Maine Community College for their first game of 2019. CCRI started off the New Year the same way they ended 2018, with a home victory. A low scoring affair, with the Knights scoring the second lowest point total of the year, did go the way of CCRI in the end 71-65. The win improves CCRI's season record to 13-3 overall and 11-2 in Region XXI play.

The New Year saw a continued air of quality around the CCRI men's basketball team. The 2019 portion of their season will provide many challenges and their first was facing off with the Seawolves. Slower with regards to scoring, the game was a war of attrition. The Knights took an early lead and slowly grew upon it with the scoreboard reading 17-11 with 11:37 left in the half. The gap expanded to 12 points, 37-25 at halftime.

The Seawolves came back with vengeance to start the second half, drawing within seven points just over two minutes after the restart, 39-32. CCRI pushed back, leading by as much as 11 points with the score set at 49-38 with 13 minutes remaining in the game. Once again, Southern Maine would battle back, getting within three points, trailing 68-65 with just 18.9 seconds remaining. However the comeback would fall just short and the Knights would go onto win 71-65.

The Knights were led by sophomore co-captain JC Santos (East Providence, RI) scoring 13 points with eight assists, six rebounds and four steals. Sophomore Oscar Iteji (Schenectady, NY) registered his third double-double of the year with 15 rebounds, 12 points, two blocks, two steals and one assist. Iteji has jumped to third on the national with 43 total blocks. Fellow big-man freshman Franklin Udeh (Boston, MA) recorded his second double-double of the year with 12 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and one assist. Sophomore co-captain Peter Wilson (Providence, RI) tallied 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Wilson currently stands at 13th in the nation with 309 total points. Freshman Dylan Durante (Johnston, RI) totaled 10 points all in the second half and two rebounds.

Head Coach Rick Harris commented:

"New Year (2019), new intro. song (Sirius made famous by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls), same results (Knight's 9th straight home win). MVP today was SID Dan LaCorbiniere who pumped up the crowd and the players with probably the best ever pregame intro. song ever created. I know it motivated me to push our guys to give an outstanding defensive effort as evident in us only allowing 25 first half points. Maine picked up some second half steam but Franklin Udeh and Dylan Durante came up with big plays down the stretch to help us secure our 13th win of the season. Following an 18-day break between games I was pleased how the guys got back to work in preparing for the always tough Seawolves. Today we played very solid defense and had great balance with 5 players scoring in double digits. Pleased with how we offset the Seawolves size with quickness and aggressiveness along with some solid execution. Today was just small step for our team but very pleased with the young men's effort and team play. Looking forward to the CCRI Invitational next weekend here at CCRI."

The CCRI Knights men's basketball team will next be in action as they host the Caimans of Hostos Community College located in the Bronx, NY. This matchup is part of the CCRI Invitational with tipoff set for 5 p.m.

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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.