HOLYOKE — Holding on to a 10-point lead in the final minute, Holyoke guard Shawn Rivera pushed the ball up the floor through Northampton’s full-court press.

As Rivera approached the 3-point line, he lobbed a pass toward the rim where only one player on the floor could get it. Soaring in from the left wing, Jamil Rodriguez – who eclipsed 1,000 points earlier in the game – caught the pass at its peak and slammed home a two-handed dunk to send the Purple Knights crowd into a frenzy.

The alley-oop capped off Holyoke’s 76-66 win over Northampton at the John “Jinx” O’Connor Gymnasium on Friday night.

What a moment for Jamil Rodriguez.

The Holyoke forward eclipses 1,000 points on this second-effort layup, and seconds later he’s greeted by his friends.

Purple Knights up 42-28 in the 3Q. pic.twitter.com/YumZR3OhgO

— Garrett Cote (@garrett_cote) February 3, 2024

“We had to end it off on a lob,” Rodriguez said. “We talked about it earlier, I told [Rivera] to throw it toward the end. It was the only way to end it, and it happened.”

Heading into the fourth quarter with a 17-point lead, which extended to 19 points after two Rodriguez free throws, the Purple Knights were in prime position to coast to the finish line. That is, until Blue Devils guard Naihmond Peters-Wolfe (22 points) splashed back-to-back 3s followed up by a JJ Moore (15 points) long ball. Peters-Wolfe then banked home a layup to extend the Northampton run to 11-0, bringing the deficit down to eight in a blink.

On the next possession, Peters-Wolfe was whistled for a reach, giving him his fifth and final foul. The Blue Devils had to finish the night without their leading scorer. Head coach Rey Harp still felt comfortable given senior captain Silas Coles (21 points) had his offensive game working.

“My guys have been fighting hard, we just put ourselves in tough positions,” Harp said. “We need to grow a little bit to stop putting ourselves in those positions. Naihmond did a lot to get that lead down. We know what he does with the ball in his hands. But we weren’t worried without him. We still knew we had a chance to get in it at the end... Si stepped up when he had to. When we competed like that down the stretch, it’s because Si was on the court.”

Northampton fought each trip down the floor to stay within striking distance, but Holyoke continued to match every Blue Devils bucket with one of its own. Aden Cabrera lit up Northampton’s defense for a game-high 28 points, and scored four straight points late to put the game away.

After losing by 10 to the Blue Devils two weeks ago, the Purple Knights were stoked to return the favor.

“You could just tell in their demeanor and how locked in they were that they were ready to go from the jump,” Holyoke head coach Juan Maldonado said. “Basketball is a game of runs, as we all know, so we knew Northampton is well-coached and we knew they were gonna make their run. They gave us a pretty bad whooping up at their place, so we definitely owed them that one.”

Holyoke scored 12 points in the first quarter and found itself trailing by two. But after that first eight minutes, the Purple Knights’ offense erupted.

Cabrera scored 13 of his 28 in the second quarter, including three 3-pointers, to kickstart the Holyoke offense. The Purple Knights caught fire from deep, were ignited by huge dunks from Rodriguez and found points from nearly every spot on the floor. That versatility makes them extremely tough to guard, according to Maldonado.

After the dozen put up in the first frame, Holyoke scored 24, 21 and 19 over the next three.

“One of our strengths is we have a bunch of guys that do different things and can hurt you in different spots,” Maldonado said. “One game earlier this year we knocked down 13 3s, so we know we can knock down shots when they’re in rhythm. We got guys that can shoot outside, drive, penetrate and score down low with our bigs, who work their tail off around the basket.”

The game was knotted at 24 toward the end of the second quarter until a 12-2 Holyoke run gave the hosts all the momentum heading into the locker room.

Soon out of the break, a Rodriguez layup – giving him 1,001 career points at the time – put the Purple Knights up 14, once again seizing control of the tempo. That sparked a 10-0 to put Holyoke ahead 54-37.

“It feels great,” Rodriguez said. “Not a lot of people get the opportunity to get 1,000 points. It feels really good, because there aren’t too many people on that banner, and that’s generations and generations.”

Northampton struggled against the Purple Knights’ pressure during that stretch, and from there the visitors were playing catch up.

“Executing against their pressure was a challenge for us; they turned us over,” Harp said. “We preach valuing possessions, and there was a stretch there where I think we were a little bit loose with it. We’ll fix that.”

Up next for the Blue Devils (7-8) is a road game with Chicopee Comp next Tuesday. With Northampton sitting just inside the top 32 at No. 26 in Division 2, it really needs to reach 10 wins just to be safe. These last few games are crucial, and that starts against the Colts.

“Ultimately, all of our games left are playoff games,” Harp said. “We still have to get in. Every game for us is a playoff game, so we’re starting two weeks early.”

Holyoke (10-6, currently No. 14 in D2) secured a spot in the state tournament with its 10th win on Friday. The Purple Knights host West Springfield next Thursday at 7 p.m.