Pioneer Valley's scorching capturing helps unbeaten Pioneers defeat Hopedale in state last – MetroWest Every day Information

LOWELL — JJ Douglas drained a 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded. He held up three fingers towards the scholar part, slapped arms with teammate Brayden Lewis and was swarmed with backslaps. 
Three quarters remained. It was the spotlight of the day. 
The remainder of the sport included simply 17 extra factors for Hopedale, one fewer than Pioneer Valley’s Brayden Thayer scored over the identical span. 
The capturing struggles contrasted with the recent arms of Pioneer Valley, which made 10 3-pointers – six by Thayer en path to a game-high 26 factors. Thayer didn’t rating within the last quarter, however the top-seeded Panthers didn’t want him to. By then, they’d accomplished an undefeated season with a 49-28 victory Saturday afternoon within the Division 5 Massachusetts state boys basketball championship sport. 
“They got here able to play,” mentioned Hopedale captain Patrick Madden. “They gave us some issues. Their capturing was lights out.” 
PV (26-0) held the No. 2 Blue Raiders to 3 subject objectives over the 2 center quarters and led by 22 factors heading into the fourth. However Hopedale got here out and performed a strong first eight minutes. Douglas canned two 3s and Keigan Murphy additionally scored from deep because the Blue Raiders glided off the court docket with an 11-10 lead. 
“I believed we had been in nice form,” mentioned Hopedale coach Tony Cordani. “After the primary quarter it regarded nice.” 
Pioneer, nevertheless, regarded even higher, utilizing a 12-0 spurt to lead 25-13 on the half. The Blue Raiders (22-3) compelled a shot clock violation and Madden’s runner within the early moments of the third quarter seemingly introduced the workforce to life. However PV outscored Hopedale 17-7 within the third because the Raiders continued to battle with open appears. 
“The way in which they play protection, I knew we had been going to have a whole lot of perimeter photographs from the surface,” Cordani mentioned. “We wanted to knock down just a few of them to hold with them. Our protection was okay, but it surely was a matter of our offense being stagnant.” 
The loss does little to overshadow an in any other case memorable season. 
The Raiders opened the season with eight consecutive victories — together with a win over Division 1 Wellesley. They gained the Barry Hutchinson Memorial Vacation Event in Bellingham two days earlier than 2025 started; that night time, Madden scored his 1,000th career point. 
Hopedale reached the Clark Event finals and superior to Saturday’s D5 title sport due to Madden’s clinching drive to the ring within the last seconds of a semifinal win over Westport. 
“Hopefully these guys will take this and make it one thing that they’ll use for the remainder of their lives,” Cordani mentioned. “As a result of we pleasure ourselves on laborious work and being a workforce and all the great stuff you do throughout the season.” 
Maybe assistant coach Roland (Robo) Arcand mentioned it finest. After seniors Robbie Manning, Danny Carroll, Mikey Rutkowski, Madden and Lewis hugged before walking off the court for the ultimate time — medals round their necks — Arcand, a 2017 Hopedale grad and most cancers survivor, left them with some inspirational phrases. 
“I simply advised them in (the locker room), I haven’t been round too many profitable groups,” Arcand mentioned simply earlier than the Raiders departed the Tsongas Middle to a refrain of cheers as they boarded the workforce bus. “That is in all probability the best workforce I’ve been part of. Best group of youngsters. It’s been a enjoyable journey. I’m grateful that it was with this group of youngsters.” 
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Every day Information. He could be reached attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Comply with him on Instagram @TDumas1.

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