By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
Words Unlimited, Rhode Island's organization of sports writers, sportscasters and sports publicists, will honor former Bishop Hendricken boys basketball star Joe Mazzulla on Sunday night at the organization's 61st annual sports awards dinner at the Radisson Airport Hotel in Warwick.
Mazzulla, a two-time Rhode Island Gatorade Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006, has been named the Schoolboy Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row by Words Unlimited. He is presently playing in his freshman season at the University of West Virginia after leading Hendricken to its third-consecutive Division I basketball crown last winter.
As a senior at Hendricken in 2005-06, Mazzulla averaged 24 points a game in leading the Hawks to a 21-0 record. As a freshman at No. 23 West Virginia (19-6) this season, the Johnson, R.I, resident is averaging 8.9 minutes per game, 2.8 points per game and one assist.
A total of 17 athletes, coaches and teams will be honored at the awards dinner on Sunday. In addition to Mazzulla, Words Unlimited will note the achievements of former LaSalle Academy quarterback Liam Coen, who led the University of Massachusetts to an appearance in the NCAA Division I-AA championship game last December against Appalachian State.
Coen, a sophomore from North Providence, topped the Atlantic-10 Conference in passing efficiency (174.4) and was second in touchdown passes (23) while guiding the Minutemen to a 13-2 record and an A-10 Championship. LaSalle made three-consecutive state Super Bowl appearances during Coen's time in Rhode Island.
Tickets to Sunday's awards dinner are $35 and can be purchased by contacting Words Unlimited president John Parente at Johnson & Wales University at 401-598-1604.
East Providence Streak Comes to an End
East Providence High had won seven games in a row and had every intention of making it eight straight on Tuesday night, despite facing Bishop Hendricken, the three-time defending Division I champs. Hendricken, after all, had lost three games in a row, to Mount Pleasant, Hope and La Salle Academy.
East Providence, however, played inconsistently from the start and dropped a 62-53 decision to Hendricken at Pepin Gym in Warwick.
"We played very tentative and scared in the first half; we've got veteran guys that have played in much tougher gyms then this, but we didn't get the response that we were looking for," East Providence coach Alex Butler told the Pawtucket Times.
"We outscored them by four in the second half, but you can't dig yourself out of a 13-point hole on the road that easily."
East Providence is now 15-7 overall, 10-4 in D-1 East play.
The win by Bishop Hendricken (16-4, 12-2 D-1 West) essentially seals the top seed for the upcoming state tournament. Its final three opponents (Cranston East, Cranston West, Central) have a combined 10 league wins.
"They are still Hendricken and I don't get caught up in records; regardless of what's going on with them we knew we still had to come in here and beat them on their floor which is tough...we just couldn't put it together and play two halves of basketball tonight," said Butler, the former Rhode Island College star and Little East Conference legend.
"We have been playing good basketball though; it's good to be peaking in February with the playoffs right around the corner. It's going to take a total team effort from here on out because it doesn't get any easier for us, playing Mount Pleasant on Friday night."
Hendricken guard Brendan Degnan, who was shifted from shooting guard to point guard to help break the losing skid, scored a game-high 22 points.
"I felt comfortable out there and we needed to make a few changes and they worked and it helped us get out of our struggle," Degnan told the Kent County Times.
"But this was a great team effort. We played solid defense, everybody contributed and we got it done."
Classical Continues to Roll
Classical of Providence, the No. 1 team in Division II-North, won its 10th game in a row on Tuesday night, routing Pilgrim, 64-39, in Warwick.
Classical, a senior-laden team, was led by junior shooting guard Josh Cabrera, who finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists, despite playing just eight minutes in the second half. Classical improved to 18-2, 13-1.
"I think right now, Josh is just starting to come into his own," Classical coach Todd Keefe told the Providence Journal.
"We've been trying to move him around to different spots in our offense for him to touch the ball a lot more because we want him to get the idea of being more aggressive and scoring a lot more and in different ways."
Andrew Watkins, a bigger and stronger version of Cabrera, was a major reason why Classical led by as many as 26 points in the first half.
Watkins scored all 14 of his points in the first half despite playing only eight minutes due to a nagging ankle injury.
"Andrew is our stat man," Keefe said. "He doesn't even have to score a lot of points to dominate the game. He can do it defensively and by grabbing rebounds or opening things up for other players. The nice thing about him is he can play a lot of different positions for us."
Feinstein Proving It Belongs At the Top
Though Feinstein of Providence (20-0, 11-0) is a Division II team that's only two years removed from being in Division III, some feel the Falcons may be the best overall team in Rhode Island.
Among Feinstein's victories this season are decisions over several of the elite teams in Division I, including Division I-South's first-place team, Chariho; Division I-East's first and second-place teams, Hope and Mount Pleasant; Division I-West's second-place team, Central; and last year's Division I state runner-up, Cranston West.
"We play together as a team," said Feinstein coach Dave Tedeschi. "We are extremely unselfish and are willing to make the extra pass. We've been playing together in this system for a year and a half now and everybody knows his role. And when you have five guys that can score 20 points on any given night, that's tough to stop."
In addition to beating Rhode Island teams by an average of 26 points per game, Feinstein took an 82-77 decision on the road early in the season from highly regarded Weston, CT, High, which features 6-foot-10 senior center John Galvin.
A recent online poll conducted by the Providence Journal tabbed Feinstein as the best overall team in Rhode Island, edging out Bishop Hendricken, Rogers of Newport, Hope and East Providence.
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com Master Photographer for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island area and a Northeast Region columnist. He may be reached at 203-563-2297 or at j.stout@jmstout.org.