The Cranston East boys basketball team continues to rebuild its program this winter and entered the week with a 2-10 record in Division I.

The Bolts most recently took on Smithfield over the weekend and fell in a 54-37 decision. Drew Barionnette led the way with a game-high 17 points scored. East fell to Mt. Pleasant 48-41 the previous game. Despite being tied at halftime, the Kilties would surge in the final two quarters to run away with the win. Barionnette once again led the Bolts in scoring, this time with 15.

East picked up its second win of the year last week when it scored the game-winning shot with five seconds left to play in regulation. Albert Kesse notched 20 points, followed by teammate Darien Peterson with 14.

Heading into the winter season, the Bolts expected to go through some growing pains with a lineup that had very few varsity minutes under its belt. Although the Bolts have faced some adversity throughout the campaign, first-year coach Dave DelFino has been pleased with the team’s chemistry and willingness to learn.

“The kids are very bought in and work hard, they are still very much a family and a unit,” said DelFino. “Our whole team has really come a long way. We knew it was going to be a grind playing in Division I, we had nearly zero minutes of varsity experience. They felt what it was like winning with five seconds left against East Greenwich, they experienced a tough loss against Mt. Pleasant. There’s a little bit of a roller coaster when you don’t have a lot of experience and they’ve done a great job of learning the game. We’re throwing a lot at them. The big thing we need to do is remain positive.”

The Bolts squared off against second-place Barrington on Tuesday night but the results were not available at press time. With a handful of other big matchups ahead against teams like Hendricken and Cumberland, DelFino and company are most focused on the progress on the court rather than the wins and losses.

“We want to see them improve every day at practice, go into the game and do everything we worked on in practice, using what we’ve improved on,” said DelFino. “The wins are nice, but it’s not about that. It’s about getting better in everything that we do.”