After coming up short last year, the Bishop Hendricken basketball team would take on North Kingstown and win 58-53 to claim the Division I Championship on Sunday at CCRI.

The Hawks were paced by junior guard Sebastian Thomas, who scored 32 points, 23 coming in the second half.

Hendricken trailed by seven points with 3:28 remaining, but Thomas would go off for 17 points from there to propel the Hawks to the win and top seed in the upcoming open state tournament.

“He’s done it all season long, I’m not surprised. In my opinion, he is one of the best, if not the best guard in the state of Rhode Island. He’s got speed, he’s got quickness, he’s a baller and has a lot of confidence. He’s becoming a leader as well,” said Hendricken coach Jamal Gomes after the win.

Thomas was happy to get the win against an elite foe like North Kingstown.

“They are a really good team and we just needed to focus and really execute our game plan … we didn’t panic, coach just told us to keep our composure. We did a great job today.” said Thomas, who has his sights set on the state championship. “I’m glad we got this, but we want the state tournament, we won the state championship, so we just need to come in focused every day at practice.”

The two teams exchanged shots throughout the first half, and Thomas would put the Hawks ahead at the break by draining a 3-pointer with one second remaining in the half and setting the score to 28-27.

The two teams had runs of their own in the second half, but Thomas was too much to handle in the final four minutes as he carried the Hawks on his back and hit the eventual game-winning 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining.

David Lynch added 11 points in the win for Hendricken. Clay Brochu led the Skippers with 16 points scored.

Gomes was proud of his team’s resilience in the victory, and believes that trust within the locker room is what has led the Hawks to the top seed in the state.

“It means a lot, this is a special group of men that we have and they fight for each other and love each other. They’ve done that all season long, we have been in a ton of close battles,” said Gomes. “These men always find a way to pull it out and it is because of their love for each other in those relationships. We can teach them basketball, but it really comes down to those relationships. It’s about basketball, but it’s not about basketball.”

The Hawks will now wait to see their next opponent in this weekend’s upcoming Elite Eight round of the open state tournament. Hendricken will take on the winner of Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchup between No. 8 Westerly and No. 9 Cranston West.

Although the Hawks are excited to regain their spot as Division champs, Gomes and company look to quickly shift their focus on the next few games.

“I told them that win or lose, we can’t get too excited,” said Gomes. “The state tournament is the big one, we want to win this game, we want to win a division title, but we have got to move on and start focusing on winning the state tournament.”