Raiders leave indelible mark
Players were winners on, off court in historic season
PAWTUCKET – Four members of the Shea High varsity team strolled into athletic director Kate Corry’s office on Tuesday evening awaiting transport to the annual R.I. Interscholastic League All-Division Boys’ Basketball Banquet at Warwick’s Crowne Plaza Hotel.
That ride, of course, would come courtesy of head coach Matt Pita, who directed the squad to what records indicate is the finest campaign Shea (or Pawtucket West) has assembled in its 77-year history.
This Raider bunch closed its Division II regular season with a perfect 18-0 mark, then rolled to a berth in the Division II final before dropping a 72-64 overtime decision to Cumberland.
Undaunted, Shea tacked on three more triumphs during the Open event prior to sustaining a 66-55 defeat to top-ranked Hendricken in Sunday night’s title tilt at the University of Rhode Island’s Ryan Center.
In all, the Raiders captured 26 of their 29 contests this winter, and no other unit can compare.
According to www.rihssports.org, which offers only league records for any school year-to-year (not overall), only one other SHS team had finished undefeated in that category, and that came in 1989-90, when that club delivered the same.
Ironically, that team – like this latest version – didn’t win a state championship, though this one came the closest.
“We had a great, great season, there’s no doubt about that,” Pita stated. “If someone had told me before the season started that we’d have that kind of record and go to two state finals, I would’ve said, ‘Now those are lofty goals.’
“It had nothing to do with me or my assistants,” he added. “We tell the kids all the time, ‘You know how to play, you know your roles, so just go out and excel in those roles.’ I hear all the time from my father (Ray) that the 1969-70 team was one of the best because it won the state (Class B) championship.
“I have to be honest, I think this team is better than that one,” he laughed. “Dad says that only because he was on it.”
(That unit, by the way, mustered a “mere” 10-4 regular-season mark).
“What goes through my mind when I hear we had the best record ever? Just greatness,” shrugged senior forward Malik Muhammed-Hester. “We just played great together. I think a lot of it had to do with (frosh sensation) Erickson Bans, who was our floor general and a great shooter. But there were others, like (senior) Abdul Ajia, who had a lot of rebounds, got blocks, played good defense and scored at will; and (junior wing) Gerald Soe, who was our spark plug. He can match up against any team’s best player, and did.”
Soe himself said it made him feel proud for the squad he represented to have notched a perfect slate.
When asked how the Raiders were able to produce it, Bans stated only, “We were conditioned. We used to do 21 suicides (quarter-, half- and full-court sprints) at practice, and the guy who came in last would have to shoot two free throws. If he missed one, we’d have to run 10 more (fullcourt) laps, and – with two (failed attempts) – we’d run 20.
“We were just in better shape than the other teams,” he continued. “We had to work harder than others because we only went six deep on most nights, unless we were way ahead.”
Ajia noted familiarity among the players also helped.
“We pretty much already knew each other before the season, either through football or having played pick-up games against each other,” he stated. “I think you play good with guys you already know because you know what they’re thinking, where they’re going to be on the court. You also come together because you like the people you’re playing with.”
A lot can be said about this hoop squad’s history over the decades.
Outside of the two programs that manufactured the lone two unbeaten slates, the 1940-41 club (the first year PWor Shea kept such records) went 13-1 in league play and snared the Class A and state titles. In 1948-49, it won the championship (despite a fair 12-8), while West went 14-6 the following campaign and settled for R.I. runner-up status.
When West became Shea before the 1977-78 season, the Raiders finished 10-4 in league, though struggled to a tough 0-18 mark the following year. Since then, Shea has managed only two Class B/Division II crowns, they were in 1994-95 (14-2 regular season) and 1996-97 (15-3), but did reach the final in ‘8182 and 2012-13.
This winter’s group also assembled the seventh winning season in the last nine years, and 40th in the school’s 77-year history.
“I don’t think those (stats) mean much to the new wave of kids,” Pita offered. “They’re not all that honed in on history. We’re on a techsavvy world now, and we’re just one click away from checking on history, but I know the old-school types really love that stuff; they appreciate it more.”
Muhammed-Hester admitted being “a little bummed” by the fact his Raiders didn’t come away with at least one title, either the D-II or Open, but the success wasn’t lost on him.
“It was a historic season, and that makes me feel good, the fact I was a part of it,” he said. “I’ll take it.”
Mentioned Ajia: “It’s too bad, but it doesn’t really matter a lot to me because we played hard; you’ve got to be satisfied with that. When you get punched in the mouth, all you can do is get back up and keep working.
“You can use that fact (of losing two championships) as a reminder of how to get better, but you can’t look at it as a burden.”
What sparked this team to “greatness” (to use Muhammed-Hester’s phraseology), said Pita, were the offerings of his starting five, including senior gridder Yanique Duarte at the wing position, and also senior sixth-man Tyreek Rodrigues (also the SHS varsity quarterback who guided the Raiders to the D-II Super Bowl crown.
“Abdul and Erickson both earned first-team All-Division honors, and that’s because Abdul averaged 19 points and 13 rebounds per game, and Erickson led the team at 19.1 (ppg) and eight assists,” he said. “Gerald averaged 13.0 points and four steals a game, with Malik scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 boards a game. Those guys made All-Division second team.
“We had four guys in double-digit scoring for the season, which is phenomenal,” he added. “We also had two coach’s picks for All-State, and Abdul and Erickson received those, but I still say it’s all about the kids. From a coach’s perspective, we were lucky enough to have a good group of kids to work with. They allowed us as coaches to be positive role models, as they’re pretty confident kids themselves.
“You know, some of our best moments this season have come away from the basket- ball court – the team dinners in the cafeteria, eating pizza and joking around before long road trips, Sunday afternoon shootarounds. What makes me most proud is they adopted my four-year-old son, Ryan; at practices, they treated him like their little brother. It was just plain nice of them to do that, and – as a father – that touched me.”
He explained he never has been prouder of a team than what he witnessed prior to Shea’s Open championship game against the Hawks on Sunday evening.
“Before we went on, they had the North Kingstown-South Kingstown Unified Basketball final, and all of our guys made it a point to cheer them on, then shake hands with the players from both sides afterward. They had a game to worry about, too, but that didn’t matter to them. Now that was a proud moment for me as a coach, them giving back.
“That shows me these young men get it.”