SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Frontier Regional boys basketball team dismantled Hopkins Academy, 70-26, to clinch the outright Hampshire North League title at Goodnow Gymnasium on Friday.
The league championship is the 13th in program history and first for coach Josh Morse. Frontier hasn’t lost a game since Dec. 13.
“We’ve been building for it,” Morse said. “We had to start somewhere. We started with some guys that really needed to develop and mature. We didn’t expect to win until this year. Even then you don’t know until you see the offseason work.”
It will be the first addition to the league championship banner since 2020. Alex Ellis scored 22 points with four 3-pointers for Frontier. With one league game remaining, the Redhawks (16-1, 11-0) are undefeated in league play.
“Culture is the main thing for us,” Ellis said. “We hang and spend a lot of time together outside of basketball. That’s what really bonds us together. It leads us to trusting each other on the court. We just play consistent every night. We try to be the same exact team no matter what. We try to play the same way no matter what the score is and no matter what team we are playing.”
The Redhawks are currently ranked No. 20 in the latest MIAA Division 4 power rankings. In the PVIAC Western Mass. rankings, Frontier is ranked fifth in Class B. Even with a dominant regular season, the Redhawks potentially face road games because of strength of schedule in both playoff scenarios.
If the playoffs started today, Frontier would travel to face Monument Mountain in the Western Mass. tournament.
“We do a lot of things internally to match up with tough competition,” Morse said. “The game against Greenfield, even though we felt they were not to our level, they provided that energy and effort that made it a playoff style game. We bring in guys that can play, we scrimmage. We do some different things like that to prepare ourselves for those and we do a lot of homework. But if we do what we are supposed to do and execute, we think we can play at a high level regardless.”
Max Millette scored 14 points for the Redhawks. Frontier pulled away in the second quarter after a slow start. Millette found Ellis for a 3-pointer that made it 23-16. At the time, the seven-point lead was the largest of the game for Frontier. Millette then registered a steal and a finish to up the lead to nine points. Frontier finished the second quarter on a 11-2 run to go into halftime with a 31-18 lead.
Rowan Modestow reached double-figures with 10 points. Carter Miller added eight points. Frontier closes the regular season at Smith Academy on Monday.
McCann Tech 62, Mohawk 43 —The Hornets beat the Warriors (1-17) in Buckland. Owen Pfisterer-Hill and Malcolm Briggs both scored 10 points for Mohawk.
Greenfield 89, Smith Academy 42 — Grayson Thomas erupted once again for the Green Wave in the win over the Falcons at Nichols Gymnasium. Thomas scored 46 points with seven 3-pointers in the victory. Gavin Arsenault added 19 points for Greenfield (12-5). Bodie Burke chipped in with 10 points for the Green Wave.
Pioneer 42, Mahar 34 — Hayden Killeen’s career-high performance sent the Panthers to their third straight win. Killeen scored 20 points on four 3-pointers in the victory over the Senators at Messer Gymnasium.
Judah Glenn scored 11 points with six assists and four steals for Pioneer (3-14). Freeland Ringer led Mahar (3-14) with six points.
Smith Voc 68, Turners Falls 67 — Some late free throws by the Vikings handed the Thunder a home loss. Kainen Stevens and Freilyn Abarua both scored 14 points for the Thunder. Cam Johnson (13 points) and Jackson Cogswell (12 points) both reached double-figures for Turners Falls.
Girls basketball
Athol 69, PVCICS 16 — The Bears were all over the Dragons in the win at Mallet Gymnasium. Abigayle Spooner dropped 21 points for Athol (5-12).
Maddie Desrosiers (11 points), Maliah Clark (12 points), Kamrya Clark (10 points) were all in double-figures for the Bears. Madilyn Hermes added eight points for Athol.
Frontier 72, Easthampton 46 — Addie Harrington scored 22 points for the Redhawks in a road win in Easthampton. Skyler Steele (21 points) and Harper Modestow (15 points) also reached double-figures.
Modestow cleaned the glass for 10 rebounds for Frontier (15-2) . Harrington added five steals. Whitney Campbell played set up with five assists. Macy DeMaio had seven points, five assists and four rebounds.
Franklin Tech 44, Smith Academy 39 — The Eagles jumped out to an early lead and held on in the home win over the Falcons. Brayleigh Burgh scored 14 points for Franklin Tech (5-12). Lindsey Taylor added 11 points, with Samantha Duncan adding seven points.
Ariel Peters led Franklin Tech in rebounding with 10 boards. Abigail Dobias led the defense with four steals.
Hopkins Academy 37, Mohawk 20 — A slow second quarter doomed the Warriors in the road loss to the Golden Hawks in Hadley. Zephyr Jetzon scored seven points for Mohawk (8-9). Sadie Wilcox added six points.
