Canes Reign in Division 5 Boys Basketball

LOWELL, Mass. -- Qwanell Bradley took over the game, and Hoosac Valely took home the school's first boys basketball state championship with a 91-76 win over Holbrook on Sunday at UMass-Lowell's Tsongas Center.

 

Bradley scored 29 of his 33 points and grabbed 13 of his 20 rebounds in the second half as the ninth-seeded Hurricanes earned their third straight upset victory to claim the Division 5 crown.

 

Adan Wicks scored 29 points, and Terrell Johnson added 16 points to go with 18 rebounds and a couple of blocked shots.

 

"Coming into this season, no one believed in us," Bradley said of the Hurricanes, who won their ninth straight game to finish 18-8 and avenge a 2024 loss in the state final. "Going into the state tournament, no one believed in us. None of you guys thought we were going to be here right now.

 

"I can look at myself in the mirror. I had some hope. I didn't know we'd be here. But when you have guys like this, all these guys over here come togehter, it's a family."

 

The Hurricanes came together and outscored the Bulldogs, 30-18, in the third quarter to take control of the game.

 

Bradley drove to the basket to take a 40-38 lead on the first score of the second half, and Holbrook never drew even again.

 

Johnson put back an offensive rebound, Blake Mazzeo (12 points) hit one of his three 3-pointers and Wicks go a steal and a lay-up in a 9-2 spurt to start the half.

 

From there, the Hurricanes ratched up their lead a little at a time. Mazzeo hit a 3 to give the Canes their first double-digit lead at 52-42 midway through the third.

 

Bradley ended the quarter with a bucket assisted by Carson Durant to give Hoosac Valley a 68-56 lead going to the fourth.

 

Holbrook hung in there, getting within nine with 2:09 left to play when Allen Brown Jr. (game-high 40 points) drew a foul hitting a 3-pointer and completed the four-point play to make it 72-81.

 

But Bradley put back a rebound on Hoosac Valley's next possession, and Johnson scored with 1:28 left to make it 85-72.

 

Johnson grabbed 13 rebounds and had both his blocks in the second half as he and Bradley asserted themselves against a Holbrook front line that got 24 points and 14 boards from big man Oden Massillon.

 

"Every time we go into a game against someone bigger than us, we just box out," Wicks said. "Box that guy out and go and get the rebound. That's what we were doing every single time.

 

"Qwanell [Bradley] and Terrell [Johnson] and everybody, our second-chance buckets are huge for us."

 

The Hurricanes and Bulldogs battled to a 38-38 tie through two quarters.

 

Holbrook jumped on top early thanks to 10 first-quarter points from Odens Massillon, who helped his team build a 14-5 lead with about three minutes left in the period.

 

But Terrell Johnson scored in the post with an assist from Ian Liebenow to get Hoosac Valley going.

 

Wicks scored the next eight points -- six on 3-pointers -- to get the Hurricanes within one point, 16-15, after one quarter.

 

In the second quarter, Wicks hit four times from behind the arc to pace Hoosac Valley.

 

"Just like the rest of the year, feeding the hot hand," said Wicks, who ended up with seven 3s. "I knew it would go down ... just like the rest of the year with Qwanell [Bradley's] and-ones and Terrell [Johnson's] putbacks, Blake [Mazzeo's] big 3s at the end of the game.

 

"I just know it's going to go in at some point."

 

Holbrook's Brown, who saw just two field goals go in in the first quarter, hit a pair of 3s and scored 12 points in the second.

 

Johnson's putback in the final minute knotted the game for the Hurricanes, 38-38.

 

In the second half, Johnson and his teammates made sure that a school that has ruled small-school girls basketball in the state for a decade finally has a boys' state title to match.

 

"It feels good to have a state championship banner up there," Wicks said. "The girls have won what? Four times, three times? In my high school career, they won two in a row.

 

"One of those times [2024], we were there. To lose it that year and watch them win it, I feel like it just made us want it more."

 

Photos to come from this game.