No. 1 Hopkins Academy pulls away from St. Joseph’s to reach WMass D4 boys basketball semifinals

HADLEY — There was cause for some optimism in the St. Joseph’s crowd moments into the second quarter.

Top-seeded Hopkins Academy was already in some foul trouble and the Crusaders scored the first four points of the period to cut the Golden Hawks’ lead from 10 to six points.

St. Joe’s zone forced the Hawks deep into the shot clock, but Sam’i Roe calmly drained a 3-pointer from the left wing.

The shot started an 8-0 run for Roe that turned into a 13-0 surge for Hopkins. The Crusaders never got within single digits again as the Hawks rolled to a 78-49 win.

The victory earned Hopkins (19-2) a trip to the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Tournament semifinals. It was the final game ever for the No. 9-seeded Crusaders (7-15). St. Joseph’s is closing at the end of the school year.

“We were a little too excited early because it’s the playoffs,” Roe said. “We just kept our head in it and came out with a win.”

It’ll be the Hawks third straight trip to the Cage where they’ll play No. 4-seed Turners Falls (14-8) for a third time this season.

Hopkins won the previous two games: 71-54 at Turners Falls on Feb. 1; and 91-56 in Hadley on Feb. 13.

Roe’s mini-run was part of a 28-point, 20-rebound, six-assist, five-steal performance for the senior guard.

He and John Earle carried the Hawks early combining for 27 of the team’s 28 points, helping to negate early foul trouble for Jon Morrison, Irvin Compass and Justin Ciaglo.

Earle finished with 19 points.

“Sam’i is the best player in Western Mass. and John is one of the top five,” coach Angelo Thomas said. “In the backcourt together, that’s a pretty fearsome twosome.”

Thomas thought Hopkins’ early foul trouble could turn out to be a good thing as several reserves got their feet wet.

Caleb (Graves) stepped up tonight. Aiden (Michalek) stepped up, Nate (Kelley) got some more time,” Thomas said. “The silver lining in the foul trouble is that some guys came in earlier played more minutes than they’re used to. That’ll help us down the line.”

Roe echoed his coach.

“They gave us a lot of energy,” he said. “They hit a couple shots. I fed off their energy.”

The Hopkins lead peaked at 73-39 just before the midway point of the fourth quarter before Thomas emptied his bench.

The Hopkins crowd erupted when seventh-grader Andrew Ciaglo capped the Hawk scoring with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com.

Hopkins Academy 78,
St. Joseph’s 49

St. Joseph’s (7-15)

Gingras 3-0-9, McArdle 9-1-20, Duck 3-3-9, Whitney-Nason 1-2-5, Wilkins 1-2-4, Ortiz 0-2-2. Totals 18-10-49. Totals 17-10-49

Hopkins (19-2)

A. Ciaglo 1-0-3, J. Ciaglo 2-1-7, J. Earle 7-3-19, Kelley 1-0-3, Roe 10-6-28, C. Earle 0-0-0, King 0-0-0, Michalak 0-1-1, Compass 0-0-0, Morrison 4-2-10, Graves 2-1-5, Waldron 0-0-0, Tudryn 0-0-0, Mackin 0-2-2, Feltovic 0-0-0. Totals 27-16-78.

. Totals 19-8-49

3-Pointers—St. Joe’s 5 (Gingras 3, McArdle, Whitney-Nason). Hopkins 8 (A. Ciaglo, J. Ciaglo 2, Earle 2, Roe 2, Kelley)