AMHERST – An undefeated season and a second straight Western Massachusetts Division 4 championship.
Quite the accomplishment for the Hopkins Academy boys basketball team.
“The undefeated thing was secondary,” Hopkins coach Angelo Thomas said. “We accomplished one of our goals today. We are going to have it tough in the states. We didn’t think about being undefeated.”
After Hopkins’ 63-45 win over Quaboag in the Western Mass. finals Saturday at UMass’ Curry Hicks Cage, the focus went immediately to the battle for the Division 4 state title. After a loss in the state semifinals last year to Sutton, the pinnacle of Hopkins’ success will be to win a state title.
“It was new to us last year,” Thomas said. “Our preparation is going to be the same. We are going to throw the kitchen sink at whoever we play.”
The turnaround is quick for Hopkins; Monday the team goes up against Maynard (21-2) in the state semifinals, at 4 p.m. at the DCU Center in Worcester. Maynard beat Sutton, 40-38, in the CMass finals.
But there will be time for celebration for the Golden Hawks. After accepting their trophy at The Cage, the Golden Hawks departed on firetrucks courtesy of the Hadley Fire Department.
Sam’i Roe gave Quaboag’s defense trouble the entire game, often leaving the Cougars in his wake. Once past the initial defender, Roe had the choice of scoring or passing. In this game, it was his points that mattered the most. Roe had 28 in the game.
“We can’t think about this too much,” Roe said over the firetruck engines. “We have another goal. We’ll celebrate today and move on. We got pressured last year. We’ll be ready for that.”
After a stagnant second quarter on offense for Hopkins, Roe led a personal run that gave the Golden Hawks a 33-20 lead going into halftime. Roe scored from inside and out, but got most of his points going toward the rim.
“He’s (Roe) done that a lot,” Thomas said. “I think he’s the best player in Western Mass. Nobody can guard him. His foot-speed is too fast. He’s not just a shooter. He was kicking it out, too. Good to see that.”
Roe’s personal run to end the quarter was 9-0.
“My teammates weren’t scoring so I picked it up and they needed my help,” Roe said. “I got hot and I was feeling it.”
Jon Morrison finished with 10 points for Hopkins while Brett Morrison had 11. Hopkins’ run from the second quarter to the third was 28-1.
Spencer Butterfield had seven rebounds and four assists to go with his six points.
After a hot-shooting first quarter, Hopkins slowed down in the second quarter and a double-digit lead dissipated. After a Dante Ortiz 3-pointer for Quaboag, it was 19-19 in the second quarter.
The Cougars didn’t score again until late in the third quarter. Hopkins went into the final quarter leading 51-23.
John Earle came off the bench and scored six points for Hopkins. Dylan Perry had 15 points to lead Quaboag.
Hopkins Academy 63, Quaboag 45
Quaboag (10-12)
McCann 1-2-4, Mellen 0-2-2, Boucher 0-1-1, Cote 1-0-2, Wisniewski 0-2-2, D. Antonopoulos 1-1-4, Perry 7-1-15, Greenlaw 1-0-2, Ortiz 3-0-8. Totals-16-9-45
Hopkins Academy (23-0)
S. Butterfield 2-2-6, B. Morrison 3-2-11, Roe 11-4-28, Pipczynski 1-0-2, Earle 2-2-6, J. Morrison 4-2-10, J. Butterfield 0-0-0, Ciaglo 0-0-0, King 0-0-0, Spanknebel 0-0-0, Kelley 0-0-0, Tudryn 0-0-0, Graves 0-0-0, Mackin 0-0-0 Waldon 0-0-0. 23-12-63
Quaboag 9 11 3 22-45
Hopkins 17 16 18 12-63
3-pointers: Quaboag 3 (D. Antonopoulos, Ortiz 2); Hopkins 5 (B. Morrison 3, Roe 2).
