LOWELL \u2014\u00a0JJ Douglas drained a 3-pointer just before the buzzer<\/a> sounded. He held up three fingers towards the scholar part, slapped arms with teammate Brayden Lewis and was swarmed with backslaps.\u00a0
Three quarters remained. It was the spotlight of the day.\u00a0
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.\u00a0
The capturing struggles contrasted with the recent arms of Pioneer Valley, which made 10 3-pointers \u2013 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\u2019t 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.\u00a0
\u201cThey got here able to play,\u201d mentioned Hopedale captain Patrick Madden. \u201cThey gave us some issues. Their capturing was lights out.\u201d\u00a0
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.\u00a0
\u201cI believed we had been in nice form,\u201d mentioned Hopedale coach Tony Cordani. \u201cAfter the primary quarter it regarded nice.\u201d\u00a0
Pioneer, nevertheless, regarded even higher, utilizing a 12-0 spurt to lead 25-13<\/a> on the half. The Blue Raiders (22-3) compelled a shot clock violation and Madden\u2019s 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.\u00a0
\u201cThe way in which they play protection, I knew we had been going to have a whole lot of perimeter photographs from the surface,\u201d Cordani mentioned. \u201cWe 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.\u201d\u00a0
The loss does little to overshadow an in any other case memorable season.\u00a0
The Raiders opened the season with eight consecutive victories \u2014 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\u00a0scored his 1,000th career point<\/a>.\u00a0
Hopedale reached the Clark Event finals and superior to Saturday\u2019s D5 title sport due to Madden\u2019s clinching drive to the ring within the last seconds of a semifinal win over Westport.\u00a0
\u201cHopefully these guys will take this and make it one thing that they’ll use for the remainder of their lives,\u201d Cordani mentioned. \u201cAs a result of we pleasure ourselves on laborious work and being a workforce and all the great stuff you do throughout the season.\u201d\u00a0
Maybe assistant coach Roland (Robo) Arcand mentioned it finest. After seniors Robbie Manning<\/a>, Danny Carroll, Mikey Rutkowski, Madden and Lewis hugged before walking off the court<\/a> for the ultimate time \u2014 medals round their necks \u2014 Arcand, a 2017 Hopedale grad and most cancers survivor, left them with some inspirational phrases.\u00a0
\u201cI simply advised them in (the locker room), I haven\u2019t been round too many profitable groups,\u201d Arcand mentioned simply earlier than the Raiders departed the Tsongas Middle to a refrain of cheers as they boarded the workforce bus. \u201cThat is in all probability the best workforce I\u2019ve been part of. Best group of youngsters. It\u2019s been a enjoyable journey. I\u2019m grateful that it was with this group of youngsters.\u201d\u00a0
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Every day Information. He could be reached attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Comply with him on Instagram @TDumas1.<\/em><\/p>\n

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LOWELL \u2014\u00a0JJ 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.\u00a0Three quarters remained. It was the spotlight of the day.\u00a0The remainder of the sport included simply 17 extra factors for Hopedale, one fewer than Pioneer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n