The new year has kick-started as one of opportunity in Rhode Island high school boys basketball.
The opening weeks of the season have had varied results, with some teams having played just twice and others preparing for their eighth game. January, though, is when the season really gets into full swing and the games truly start to matter.
Two new teams have entered the fold in the top 10, while the other eight had some shifting across the first few weeks of basketball. There’s undoubtedly far more change on the horizon.
Here’s the second edition of our Rhode Island high school boys hoops top 10.
1. Bishop Hendricken
Record: 1-1
Previous rank: 1
Next game: at Central, Jan. 2, 4:30 p.m.
It’s difficult to ding the Hawks for concocting a gauntlet of a schedule. In their first game, they took it to New London in a dominant 70-49 win. New London has been one of the better teams in Connecticut in recent years and has won its other four games this season. Deion Ellis-Cipriano led the way with 23 points, followed closely by Michael D’Ambra’s 21. Neumann-Goretti — a school that has ranked in MaxPrep’s top five teams in Pennsylvania for four years — then got the best of Hendricken, 80-70. The Hawks are still the best team in the state, and it’ll take a serious shift for that to change.
2. Lincoln
Record: 6-0
Previous rank: 2
Next game: vs Westerly, Jan. 2, 7 p.m.
The Lions are on a tear, as expected. They’ve won all six of their contests and have managed a plus-161 point differential. Their average margin of victory is just under 27 points. Senior guard Gianni Pagios has been fantastic, averaging 21.2 points on 57 percent shooting from the field. His top performance was a 30-point showing during an 80-59 win over Tolman. Andrew Picozzi has served as the secondary scorer with 11.3 points per game with Josh Bergeron playing his first games since tearing his ACL, though Bergeron came alive in Lincoln’s most recent 76-48 victory against Mt. Pleasant with a 21-point performance.
3. Barrington
Record: 4-0
Previous rank: 4
Next game: vs Mt. Pleasant, Jan. 3, 12:30 p.m.
Winning has come easy for the Eagles across their first four games. Like Lincoln, they’ve yet to find themselves in a close game and have won all four by double digits. Most impressively, they knocked down Classical 60-45 — an early season statement for a team with championship aspirations. Colin McDermott entered the season with high expectations, but he’s wholly surpassed those with 23, 33 and 25-point games to start the year. He’s simply lights out from three, as he went 17-of-32 from beyond the arc in those three matchups. When he took a backseat against Connecticut’s Daniel Hand High School, Caleb Satisfield and Ryan Rigamonti scored 16 apiece en route to a 69-43 win. Barrington’s three-headed monster is dangerous.
4. Central
Record: 3-0
Previous rank: 5
Next game: vs Bishop Hendricken, Jan. 2, 4:30 p.m.
The Knights have quite the test coming up when they face Hendricken, but for now, they’re off to a cool 3-0 start. They defeated Classical, allowing the Purple’s star in Eliezer Delbrey to get his, but not enough to deny them a 58-51 victory. In the season opener, they ran Woonsocket off its home court in 70-45 fashion. Central upped its scoring even further in the final test of 2025, sending East Providence packing by a scoreline of 74-52. To this point, John Ramos is averaging 18 points, along with 13 assists. Khamaree Benton has matched Ramos’ scoring with 18 points per game. The Knights’ defensive activity can take them a long way.
5. La Salle
Record: 4-2
Previous rank: 3
Next game: vs Portsmouth, Jan. 2, 4 p.m.
It’s been a turbulent opening three weeks of the season for the Rams. Their title defense is off to a shaky start after losing a swath of players. It began with a brutal 73-46 loss to Classical. The Rams clawed back from a 25-9 deficit against a young North Kingstown team, thanks to the aggressive attack mindset of stars Nick Tarro and Jaden Givens. They’ve since strung together three more wins, but they fell in a battle of La Salles, falling 73-69 to Pennsylvania’s La Salle College. It remains to be seen exactly what they’re capable of, but Tarro’s ability goes a long way.
6. Portsmouth
Record: 2-0
Previous rank: 7
Next game: at La Salle, Jan. 2, 4 p.m.
The Patriots have only played a couple of games, but they’ve certainly done their job in winning both handily. The first was a 78-34 thrashing of Middletown, and the second a 65-49 victory at Cumberland. To the surprise of no one, senior point guard Adam Conheeny is the leading force. He drained threes from all over the floor in the win over Middletown, including from range he had no business drilling them from. Portsmouth’s hounding defense forced steals and continually hit on the fast break, with shooting guard Jack Casey throwing down a ferocious dunk on one of them. Against Cumberland, it was more of the same as Conheeny and forward Nico Colantuono’s speed led to all sorts of open layups.
7. Classical
Record: 2-2
Previous rank: 6
Next game: vs North Kingstown, Jan. 2, 6 p.m.
Eliezer Delbrey is doing what he does best, but it’s really up to the rest of his team if the Purple are going to have any success. The season really could not have started any better with a 27-point win against the defending champions. The next two games went wildly downhill, although both losses came against teams in the top four of these rankings. Delbrey scored 25 points in the win over La Salle, 28 in a 58-51 loss to Central and a whopping 31 during a 60-45 loss to Barrington. In the latter two games, Delbrey scored well over half of Classical’s points, and that just can’t be the case when playing a top-tier opponent. The Purple finished off 2025 by bulldozing Cranston East 90-37.
8. Moses Brown (3-0)
Record: 3-0
Previous rank: 8
Next game: vs Chariho, Jan. 2, 5 p.m.
The Quakers sat at the pinnacle of Division II with a perfect 15-0 league record last season. This year they've won all three of their matchups. In the season opener, Moses Brown defeated Hope, 73-40. Junior shooting guard Collin Mburu scored a career-high 29 points, followed by 20 points and 11 rebounds from Ra’Jhon Jones and 18 more from junior Naz Rodriguez. The Quakers rolled past Rogers 50-36 in the following game, getting similar contributions from Mburu and Jones. Mburu completed a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Jones added 15 points and eight boards. They finished the calendar year with a tight 59-56 win over Burrillville.
9. Westerly
Record: 9-1
Previous rank: NR
Next game: at Lincoln, Jan. 2, 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs are the first of two teams to make their season debut in the power rankings. They won their first six games of the year. Even though none were against Division I teams, wins are wins. In a holiday tournament game against Stonington, Westerly lost its first in a 62-60 dogfight. The Bulldogs trailed for most of the game, but flirted with a comeback powered by senior guard Brayden Antoch’s 26-point effort. Senior forward Caleb Williams scored a game-high 19 points against Chariho in the first round of the tournament, a game they won 68-45. The Bulldogs are in for their first real test of the season when they face 6-0 Lincoln.
10. West Warwick (5-0)
Record: 5-0
Previous rank: NR
Next game: at Middletown, Jan. 2, 2 p.m.
The Wizards have flown to the top of Division II, winning all five of their games. They’ve already defeated Narragansett on two separate occasions, with scores of 80-73 and 52-36. They also pushed past Pilgrim 77-66 in the season opener. Their other two wins were blowouts against Division III’s Achievement First Providence and Central Falls, a team they defeated by 51 points. Senior forward Colin Kelly has been genuinely unstoppable, posting a double-double in four of five games, including two 23-point performances and two games of 18 or more rebounds. Junior guard Ian Degnan and senior guard Michael Andruchow are also key scorers.
Dropped out: Johnston, Cranston West
