Pioneer Valley's hot shooting helps unbeaten Pioneers defeat Hopedale in state final
LOWELL — JJ Douglas drained a 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded. He held up three fingers toward the student section, slapped hands with teammate Brayden Lewis and was swarmed with backslaps.
Three quarters remained. It was the highlight of the day.
The rest of the game included just 17 more points for Hopedale, one fewer than Pioneer Valley's Brayden Thayer scored over the same span.
The shooting struggles contrasted with the hot hands of Pioneer Valley, which made 10 3-pointers – six by Thayer en route to a game-high 26 points. Thayer did not score in the final quarter, but the top-seeded Panthers didn’t need him to. By then, they had completed an undefeated season with a 49-28 victory Saturday afternoon in the Division 5 Massachusetts state boys basketball championship game.
“They came ready to play,” said Hopedale captain Patrick Madden. “They gave us some problems. Their shooting was lights out.”
PV (26-0) held the No. 2 Blue Raiders to three field goals over the two middle quarters and led by 22 points heading into the fourth. But Hopedale came out and played a solid first eight minutes. Douglas canned two 3s and Keigan Murphy also scored from deep as the Blue Raiders glided off the court with an 11-10 lead.
“I thought we were in great shape,” said Hopedale coach Tony Cordani. “After the first quarter it looked great.”
Pioneer, however, looked even better, using a 12-0 spurt to lead 25-13 at the half. The Blue Raiders (22-3) forced a shot clock violation and Madden’s runner in the early moments of the third quarter seemingly brought the team to life. But PV outscored Hopedale 17-7 in the third as the Raiders continued to struggle with open looks.
“The way they play defense, I knew we were going to have a lot of perimeter shots from the outside,” Cordani said. “We needed to knock down a few of them to hang with them. Our defense was okay, but it was a matter of our offense being stagnant.”
The loss does little to overshadow an otherwise memorable season.
The Raiders opened the season with eight consecutive victories — including a win over Division 1 Wellesley. They won the Barry Hutchinson Memorial Holiday Tournament in Bellingham two days before 2025 began; that night, Madden scored his 1,000th career point.
Hopedale reached the Clark Tournament finals and advanced to Saturday’s D5 title game thanks to Madden’s clinching drive to the hoop in the final seconds of a semifinal win over Westport.
“Hopefully these guys will take this and make it something that they can use for the rest of their lives,” Cordani said. “Because we pride ourselves on hard work and being a team and all the good things you do during the season.”
Perhaps assistant coach Roland (Robo) Arcand said it best. After seniors Robbie Manning, Danny Carroll, Mikey Rutkowski, Madden and Lewis hugged before walking off the court for the final time — medals around their necks — Arcand, a 2017 Hopedale grad and cancer survivor, left them with some inspirational words.
“I just told them in (the locker room), I haven’t been around too many winning teams,” Arcand said just before the Raiders departed the Tsongas Center to a chorus of cheers as they boarded the team bus. “This is probably the greatest team I’ve been a part of. Greatest group of kids. It’s been a fun ride. I’m grateful that it was with this group of kids.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Instagram @TDumas1.
This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Hopedale boys basketball drops D5 state final game to Pioneer Valley
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