HADLEY – Grizzly Cyr might be more appropriate now.

Hopkins Academy freshman Teddy Cyr scored 19 of his team-high 20 points in the second half and hit a dagger 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds to send the Golden Hawks to their first Western Massachusetts championship game since 2018.

“It was all in the moment,” Cyr said. “I didn’t think about it too much.”

No. 2 Hopkins Academy led by just two points with 25 seconds left when No. 3 Hoosac Valley’s defense collapsed on Cody West at the top of the key. The senior threaded a left-handed bounce pass into Cyr’s shooting pocket, and he fired the triple without hesitation. It rattled home to scratch off any chance of a Hurricanes comeback, and the Golden Hawks ultimately prevailed 57-51 in the Class D semifinals on Wednesday.

They’ll face No. 1 Pioneer at Holyoke High School on Saturday in a rubber match for the league rivals who split two regular season meetings decided by a combined nine points. It’s a rematch of the 2018 final, which the Panthers won. Hopkins Academy last lifted a sectional trophy in 2017.

Teddy Cyr. Grizzly bear stuff. Dagger 3 with 18 seconds left puts the golden hawks up 56-51. Hopkins ball after a hoosac miss. They can feel it in hadley pic.twitter.com/RqVPheQSPY

— Kyle Grabowski (@kylegrbwsk) February 22, 2023

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been back there. That was one of our goals to get back there,” West said. “We want to come back and maybe put another banner in the gym.”

Hopkins (17-3) might have thought its place was secured a little too early. The Golden Hawks led 51-43 with 3:52 remaining after a 10-2 run.

James Fitzgibbons (14 points) gave Hopkins the lead for good after absorbing contact and finishing a layup through contact with 5:21 left. That made it 43-41. He missed the free throw, but the Golden Hawks secured the rebound, and West (11 points) dropped in a layup.

Fitzgibbons and fellow big Cam Wade helped Hopkins solve Hoosac Valley’s zone in the second half. The Hurricanes went to it in the second quarter and turned a seven-point deficit into a five-point lead at halftime.

“When we play four guards against a zone we struggle because we don’t have any inside presence,” Hopkins Academy coach Jim Hart said.

The Golden Hawks outscored Hoosac Valley 32-21 after halftime and limited the Hurricanes leading scorers Joey McGovern and Frank Field in the second half. McGovern (21 points) only had seven after halftime, while Field scored just six all game.

“We missed a lot of easy shots inside, a lot of easy baskets. We forced a couple bad shots inside then we started spraying around the 3-point line. We got out of our offense,” Hoosac coach Bill Robinson said. “Is it them that got us out of our offense? I’ll tip my hat and say yeah it was. But we were too easy to get out of that offense, and we didn’t fight enough.”

After Hopkins Academy went up eight with 3:52 left, the Hurricanes shaved it back to 53-51 with an 8-2 run. But the Golden Hawks executed their offense in the final minute to avenge last season’s sectional semifinal loss in Cheshire. 

“It feels so good to get back at ’em,” West said. “We came out flat [last year] and got our butts kicked up there. We wanted to have them come back here and get some revenge.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>