Off to a good start
Leavitt leads Davies with 13 points
The one-two scoring punch of Aldrec Viera-Dones and Steve Goulet, right, help the North Smithfield boy’s hoop team card a season-opening, overtime victory over Burrillville.
Royce Ingram (7) and the Davies Tech boys basketball team was defeated by Division II West Warwick 87-44 Wednesday night in a non-league contest. For a complete recap of the Patriots’ season opener,
WEST WARWICK — In their final tuneup before league play gets underway, West Warwick boys basketball coach Richard Grenier was encouraged by what he saw out of his Wizards as they played host to Division III Davies Career and Technical Academy on Wednesday night.
Save for some competitive play early on, the Wizards rolled to an easy 87-44 victory as they now shift their focus to the next item on the docket: Friday night’s D-II opener on the road against Burrillville.
“We’ve had three scrimmages, we’ve been working really hard in practice,” Grenier said of his team’s preseason efforts thus far. Following consecutive losing seasons, he is eager to see his team get back in the mix and make a run for the playoffs.
“We’re really trying to get back into the Division II contention for the playoffs. It’s been a long two years,” he said.
The range of experience throughout this year’s lineup has him feeling confident.
“I think we have a good blend of some seniors with some good underclassmen and I think we’ll be OK, but you never know what’s going to happen,” Grenier said.
With seniors Ryan Crain, Mason Brunette and Aidan Lynn all sitting out Wednesday’s contest for a variety of reasons, sophomore Kyle DaSilva took hold of the reigns, leading the way with a game-high 18 points, including four three-pointers.
“It’s in his blood. He’s a good 3-point shooter,” Grenier said of DaSilva. “Kyle, when he starts to feel it, he can shoot very well and I’m really looking for (him) to help us and give us a spark off the bench this year. He got a spot start tonight, but he knows his role and he will be coming off the bench.”
Junior Ja’khai Rose put up 14 points on the night, with Dante Lopes adding 13, while A.J. Gould and Kyle Kortick each posted double doubles.
Grenier wanted to make sure his seniors got the rest they needed before the games they play start counting for good.
“I really didn’t want them to pull a muscle. They haven’t touched the basketball since Friday, so I didn’t want to take a chance, but they will be in the lineup on Friday,” he said.
On the other end of the court, the Patriots were playing together as a unit for just the first time this season.
“This was the only tuneup because we didn’t get into the Injury Fund this year because they had problems with that. This was our first game,” head coach Bill Meekins said.
Cameron Leavitt led the way for the visitors with 12 points, with Raheim Rainey and Nashawn Dalomba each adding nine.
The Patriots were able to keep it close on the scoreboard until midway through the first half, before the difference in talent level between the two divisions began to show.
Back- to- back threes by DaSilva followed by a teardrop shot along the baseline, opened the lead up for West Warwick at 32- 19, with Davies unable to get the deficit back to single digits from there on. The Wizards had them doubled up at halftime 4824 and outscored them 39- 20 in the second half.