For the second straight season, the Cranston West boys freshman basketball team took home the state championship when it beat North Providence 70-40 in the title clash. It was a historic run for the Falcons as they wrapped up a perfect season with an overall record of 16-0.

The team’s leading scorer this season was Jake Anzivino, while other key starters included Danny Mojica, Marcus Whitfield and Dylan Guglietta.

West coach Bobby Santos was proud of his team’s effort and felt that last year’s championship run set the tone for this go-around.

“The expectations were there because after last year, kids came into the program and saw that we had a winning group. To me, the freshman program is the most important program a school can have because it’s all about development and getting kids into the program and getting them playing,” said Santos.

Once again, defense was the team’s calling card, which is a philosophy that West is looking to establish all the way up to the varsity level.

“We play great defense and other teams get overwhelmed. It’s a process and our kids buy in,” said Santos. (Varsity) Coach (James) Sweeney is doing a great job turning the varsity program around and it all starts with the freshmen. If you don’t have good freshmen, your program won’t be successful in the long run.”

Some of the players from this year’s group will be elevated to the junior varsity club while others will have a chance to compete for a spot on the varsity roster. Santos is excited to see the overall West program continue to grow in numbers, which he believes will help it be more competitive at both practice and during games.

“Our kids battled. They were focused and knew what they had to do. It puts a lot of pressure on the kids because the program is starting to get more recognition, it makes it harder and there’s more competition,” Santos said. “These kids really know now that they have to work hard in the summer.”

Members of the team included: Ariel Ochoa, Danny Mojica, Sebastian Soto, Jake Anzivino, Adrian Rivera, Liam Perry, Dylan Malloy, Dylan Guglietta, Cooper Bastia, Andrew Kwizera, Myles Gormley and Marcus Whitfield. Coaches were Bobby Santos and assistant coach Paul Guidici.