SPRINGFIELD – Holyoke wasn’t going to stay down on the mat, regardless of the score.
The Central boys basketball team ultimately won Wednesday’s Western Massachusetts Class A semifinal 68-50, but the Golden Eagles weren’t able to leave the Purple Knights completely in the dust. They built a 15-point lead over the first half that ballooned to 20 in the third quarter. But the Purple Knights swung again and again to cut the deficit to 11 when Roel Figueroa snapped a 3 through the net with five minutes remaining.
“It’s always important to punch back. You’re never going to see a Holyoke team that’s just gonna get punched and stay punched,” Holyoke senior guard Jael Cabrera said. “No matter where we’re at, no matter who we’re playing, we’re always going to fight back and we’re going to find some way to punch them back in the mouth.”
Cabrera, who scored a team-high 17 points, threw the final shot when he hit a 3 with seconds remaining on the buzzer. He scored 14 points in the fourth quarter.
“We worked all season long to put ourselves in this position. No one gave us this position,” Holyoke coach Juan Maldonado said. “We’re gonna go down fighting.”
Central (16-1) threw early body blows. The Golden Eagles scored the game’s first five points and opened with an 11-2 run.
“They don’t necessarily shoot the ball at a high percentage, but every time they get second and third chances, so they’re scoring a lot because of their ability to rebound the ball offensively,” Maldonado said. “We’ve got to shoot a high percentage on the other end to keep up with them and play.”
The Purple Knights only scored six points in the first quarter and were down 22-8 after Central big Joe Griffin blocked back to back shots with 4:55 to halftime.
“They’re a big, athletic team, and sometimes we fail to match intensity and we pick it up too late,” Cabrera said. “And that’s just how it happens.”
But it’s an experience Holyoke (14-5) can draw on once the MIAA Division 2 state tournament kicks off. The Purple Knights were ranked No. 11 in the latest MIAA power ratings, comfortably in the field with the chance to host a round.
“We’re not going to play a mediocre team,” Cabrera said. “We have to bring the intensity.”
Central will play No. 6 Longmeadow in the Class A finals on Saturday.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.