AMHERST — With every game the Hopkins Academy boys basketball team plays in the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Tournament, the competition gets stronger and stronger.
On Tuesday at the Curry Hicks Cage, the top-seeded Golden Hawks faced some resistance, but returned to the finals with a 73-60 win over No. 4 Turners Falls.
Hopkins had its lapses against the Indians, missing some defensive assignments and not playing to the opponents strength and weaknesses.
“It’s the attention to details,” Hopkins coach Angelo Thomas said. “Knowing who can shoot and what hand they are dominant with. Just knowing the habits of the other team.”
Hopkins led the entire game, excluding the opening minute when the Indians scored first.
Hopkins (20-2) will play the winner of No. 2 Granby and No. 3 Monson on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at the Cage.
The Rams (14-8) and the Mustangs (12-10) play Wednesday night at 8 p.m. at UMass.
“Saturday is going to be tough,” Thomas said. “Whoever we play is going to be chomping at the bits. I have seen both of them. Both teams play hard.”
The triple threat of Sam’i Roe, John Earle and Jon Morrison was too much for the Indians.
“It’s great knowing that they will be there for you,” Morrison said of Earle and Roe. “Especially Sam’i, if we are down or need a basket we look to him to pick us up.”
Roe contributed all over the court.
He defended Turners Falls’ best scorer, Tionne Brown, and limited him to 12 points.
He scored 32 points with seven assists for the two-time defending sectional champs. The guard also cleaned up the glass with 23 rebounds.
Morrison played through some foul trouble but scored 13 points while protecting the rim for Hopkins.
Earle overcame a slow start for the Golden Hawks, but scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Justin Ciaglo added seven points for Hopkins.
Turners Falls (14-9) had difficulty getting into its offense for most of the game, facing Hopkins’ full-court pressure.
At times, when the Indians broke the press it led to easy baskets, but the opportunities were too sporadic to keep pace with the Golden Hawks.
Brown scored 10 of his points at the free-throw line for Turners. Kyle Bergman was in double-digits with 10 points while Jeremy Wolfram scored eight points.
Earle’s two 3-pointers in the second quarter increased the Golden Hawks’ lead to 44-28. Going into the fourth quarter the Golden Hawks led 56-42.
There were mass substitutions at the end of the game that saw Colin Earle, Braeden Tudryn, Sam Mackin and Andrew Ciaglo get some playing time in a tournament game for Hopkins.
Turners finished its season 14-9. Hatfield native and longtime coach Gary Mullins won his 300th career game earlier in the tournament.
Hopkins Academy 73,
Turners Falls 60
Turners Falls (14-9)
Lavin 1-0-3, Brown 1-10-12, Dodge 1-0-2, Croteau 2-1-6, Wolfram 4-0-8, Bergman 4-2-10. Novak 1-0-2, Dodge 1-0-2, Vaughn 2-2-8, Peterson 4-1-9 Totals 21-11-60
Hopkins Academy (20-2)
A. Ciaglo 0-0-0, J. Ciaglo 1-4-7, Earle 4-3-14, Kelley 0-0-0, Michalak 0-0-0, C. Earle 0-0-0, Roe 13-6-32, Compass 1-0-2, Morrison 5-3-13, Graves 2-1-5, Waldron 0-0-0, Mackin 0-0-0, Michalik 0-0-0 Totals 26-17-73
|
Turners Falls |
12 |
11 |
19 |
18 |
—60 |
|
Hopkins |
18 |
19 |
19 |
17 |
—73 |
3-Pointers—Turners Falls 4 (Vaugh 2, Croteau, Lavin) Hopkins 2 (Ciaglo, Earle)
