HATFIELD — The Hopkins Academy boys basketball team won Tuesday night’s ‘Battle of the Birds’ against Smith Academy, 46-37. The win makes it a two-game sweep for this year’s rendition of the rivalry matchup.
After facing an early 9-5 deficit, the Golden Hawks found their groove to end the first quarter. Over the next few minutes, Hopkins strung together an 11-2 run to take the lead. The open lanes to the hoop that were there at the start of the game for the Falcons were quickly clogged up.
“We didn’t create enough for each other on the offensive end, and Hopkins played good [defense],” Smith head coach Matt Zerneri said. “They clogged the paint on us and tried to make us shoot from the outside, and it worked.”
The Golden Hawks found success creating turnovers on the defensive end as well, mixing in an aggressive half-court trap and full-court press to keep the Falcons off the board.
Heading into the break, Hopkins held a 24-15 lead, maintaining all of the momentum.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Golden Hawks head coach Lee Mollison said. “I knew [the Falcons] were going to play really hard. They had a little bit of a lead on us early, and we kept it together, made some big plays and just stayed the course. That’s something we’ve been working on all season long, and they’re getting better and better at it.”
Coming out of the half, Smith had a new boost of energy. The team cleaned up its offensive possessions, getting back to the rim for high-percentage looks.
With the new offensive mindset, the Falcons strung together more than seven minutes of an impressive comeback. With time dwindling in the third quarter, Smith tied the game for the first time since the first quarter at 29.
Despite the resurgence, the Golden Hawks locked back in on both ends and built their lead over the course of the fourth quarter. The Falcons gave the comeback effort their best shot, hopping into a full-court press and playing aggressive on-ball defense down the stretch.
Hopkins handled the pressure well, with ball-handlers showcasing great patience to run time off the clock while also waiting for the best shot possible. Defensively, the group communicated well and completely shut the door.
“Defense has been our calling card,” Mollison said. “This late in the season, sometimes it wanes a little bit. When we had a little bit of a lead, we started taking some quick shots, and then we had to rely on our defense to get us back in the game. But our guys are hard-nosed, tough, Hadley kids, and that’s been our identity.”
Derek Gromack led Hopkins in scoring in the victory, hitting two 3-pointers and four free throws in what was a 16-point effort for the sophomore. Matthew Vassallo played a big role in the win as well, using quick hands to generate steals on the defensive end and tallying eight points of his own.
For Smith, Cajun Benson, and Rowan Jeffress each scored a team-high 11 points in the loss, using their quickness and finesse to finish at the rim.
With the win, the Golden Hawks improve to 8-6 on the season. The team will look to build off the positive momentum on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m., when they host Mahar at home.
The loss gives the Falcons a 4-9 record on the year to this point, hoping to bounce back on Friday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m., for the second game of a four-game homestand against Athol.
“We had opportunities and couldn’t make some shots, and [Hopkins] hit some,” Zerneri said. “That’s the way basketball goes. We worked hard, played good defensively, but we just couldn’t score enough to finish the job.”
Frontier 75, Pioneer 48 — Make it 13 consecutive wins for the Redhawks after drubbing the Panthers.
Alex Ellis led all players with 34 points in this one for Frontier, followed by 13 points from Rowan Modestow and 11 points from Garrett Dredge.
Girls basketball
Mahar 39, Hopkins 21 — Olivia Earle netted 10 points for the Golden Hawks in the Franklin South contest.
Hopkins scored just one point in the first and were held off the board in the final frame by Senators.