After seeing its recent winning ways come to a close with back-to-back losses, the Mt. Hope High School boys' basketball team responded this past week with a pair of dramatic victories to improve to 10-4 overall.

The Huskies got back to their winning ways with a 49-47 victory over visiting Woonsocket on Monday night, Jan. 20.

Mt. Hope was still dealing with the illness of  Matt MacDougall and injury to Maleaq Roderick against the Villa Novans. 

The locals found themselves trailing 28-22 at intermission, but flipped the script in the third to take a 40-38 lead to the fourth where things remained tight until the end.

Jack Thompson continued his fine play in the absence of his low-post pair Roderick, leading Mt. Hope with a night-best 19. Lucas Andreozzi added 17, Ethan Santerre seven, Brian Abbruzzi five and MacDougall four.

The Division III Huskies were back to full capacity the next night, January 21, also at home when they needed two overtime sessions to defeat D-II Times 2 Academy, 81-78.

Again the locals were in arrears at the half, 31-23, but rallied to send the game into the initial five-minute extra session tied at 60 at the end of regulation, then level at 72 through the first OT.

Roderick made an impressive return to the line-up with a game-high 27 points, 24 in the second half and OT sessions. Thompson was just as good, dropping 25. Andreozzi had 19. MacDougall chipped in six and Abbruzzi five more.

The Mt. Hope girls, meanwhile, won their first game of the week, a dominating 50-25 victory on the road against Cranston East in a Division II contest played Tuesday, Jan. 28. The Huskies improved to 9-6 overall at the time, 7-5 in the league.

The locals led pretty much from the tip, including a 13-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Mt. Hope began put the clamps on defensively in the second, holding the host Thunderbolts to just five points en route to building a 20-15 lead to the break.

The Huskies next held East to just one hoop in the third, while they scored 21 points to blow the game wide open.

Hailey Ferreira scored seven of her nine points in the opening period as the locals raced to the early lead. Lilly DaSilveira led all scorers with a game-best 16, including 10 as Mt. Hope blew out the 'Bolts in the third. Maddy Butterworth chipped in seven.