Ethan Njenga scribbled “15-0” with a black Sharpie on a whiteboard inside the St. George’s locker room, sending his teammates into a wild celebration.
Back to back.
With three wins in three days last week – capped by Saturday’s home victory over Middlesex – St. George’s clinched the ISL boys championship for a second consecutive season. For the first time in program history, the Dragons went undefeated in ISL play as they finished 15-0.
“It was a goal of ours that we set from the beginning, to win the ISL,” St. George’s coach Dwayne Pina said. “To see it come to fruition, it was rewarding because we have a talented group. But we never walk into any game and just win games because we’re St. George’s. I always tell my guys, we’re not the Lakers. We’re not just showing up and winning. You have to play well each and every possession and stick to our principles and stack each possession on top of each other, and we just talk about letting the score be a byproduct of what we do well.”
St. George’s has emerged to be the class of the ISL over the last two seasons, but its historic 15-0 feat put things into perspective for Pina. From 2015-20, Brooks won six consecutive ISL titles under former coach John McVeigh, and went a perfect 15-0 for the first five championships before going 15-1 in 2019-20.
“It’s kind of humbling,” Pina said.
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And at the same time, it would have been disappointing had the Dragons not finished 15-0. With Lawrence Academy – which finished 14-1 in the ISL – on their heels the entire season after SG won the head-to-head matchup in December, they needed to go 15-0 to avoid winning a share of the championship. That wouldn’t have sat well with the Dragons, who wanted to win it outright.
“We didn’t want to be co-champs,” Pina said. “This year wasn’t built for the St. George’s School to be co-champs.”
After graduating four starters from last season’s team, SG brought back a strong core of returners for its pursuit of a repeat. Marist commit Dywane Chess took a big leap as the unquestioned star, while 2026 guard Casey Bazzano (Jamestown, R.I.), 2027s Njenga (Lowell, Mass.) and Kenny Benedict, and 2028 guard Adriel Cantave (Carver, Mass.) took strides as returners. Newcomers in 2027s Otis Crosby (Barrington, R.I.), Jelani Middleton and 2029 breakout star Chance Finlayson (Newport, R.I.) were impactful, too.
That’s how Pina wants to build his program – with a healthy mix of returners and newcomers, veterans and promising prospects that he can create sustainability with.
“It was just organic and natural that the standard stays the same,” Pina said. “That’s what we did. I think on this year’s team, just losing Casey and Dywane next year, we got six guys returning. And hopefully we can bring in a few younger guys to be productive. … Next year, the standard, the expectations are still the same. Will we go 15-0 next year? Who knows, but we’re going to be good again.”
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Pina and the Dragons – who went 26-3 in the regular season – hope this ISL title win can be a springboard for this week’s NEPSAC playoffs. SG is the No. 2 seed in the Class AA bracket and will host in-state rival St. Andrew’s in Wednesday night’s quarterfinals in what should be an electric atmosphere in Rhode Island. A win would guarantee the Dragons a home semifinal against either No. 3 Cheshire or No. 6 Lawrence Academy.
“Goal one is accomplished, now it’s on to the next one,” Pina said. “The fact that we have such a storied program in St. Andrew’s coming back to our gym, it’s a rival. The gym’s gonna be a great environment. It’s what NEPSAC basketball is ultimately all about.
“One of the things I talk about on our team is having more than one or two ways to win basketball games. That’s what we’ve had. There’s games we’ve scored 90, there’s games we held opponents to 20 in the first half, there’s games we’ve had two turnovers, there’s games we’ve had 20 offensive rebounds. We want to be dynamic in giving ourselves ways to win and that’s what we’ve been able to do.”
