Mt. Hope boys’ basketball team wins D-III state championship

Story by Kristen Ray, photos by Richard W. Dionne Jr.
Posted 3/4/19

They were each the powerhouses of their division; the number-two seeded Mt. Hope Huskies against the top-ranked Toll Gate Titans. Just once, they had faced off during the regular season, in a game …

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Mt. Hope boys’ basketball team wins D-III state championship

Posted

They were each the powerhouses of their division; the number-two seeded Mt. Hope Huskies against the top-ranked Toll Gate Titans. They faced each other once during the regular season, in a game where the Titans had stolen the show.

At a time when it mattered most, though, the Huskies were victorious, as they defeated Toll Gate 54-50, claiming the Division III State Championship title on Sunday, March 3, at CCRI in Warwick.

“This is probably the greatest feeling I’ve ever had,” said senior captain Cam Santerre.

Coming off a close win against Ponaganset during the semifinals on Friday, Santerre and his teammates came into Sunday’s championship game ready to battle. The Titans, however, stayed even with Mt. Hope throughout the first ten minutes of play. Despite junior Jalen Kopecky knocking in 18 points for the Huskies in the first half, Toll Gate found themselves pulling away, leading 32-26 at halftime. By that point, head coach Jeff Grifka knew that if the Huskies were going to climb their way back, they would first have to make some adjustments to their game plan.

“That team wanted us to shoot from outside,” he said. “They wanted us to live and die off the three point.”

So they switched things up. As they returned to the court for the second half, the Huskies focused on working the ball inside. Within two minutes, they had shortened the gap; by six minutes in, Mt. Hope had taken the lead.

Toll Gate, meanwhile, appeared to have had their confidence shaken as their shots were failing to fall in. They were not about to go down without a fight, though, and with only seconds left found themselves in a game-tying position.

As the Titans frantically fought to set up a three-point shot down at the Huskies end, Santerre was able to draw a foul as he stole the ball and, ultimately, the game away for Mt. Hope.

“It hit my brain and I’m just like, oh my gosh, we just won a championship,' ” said Mr. Grifka.

By the time the final buzzer sounded, Kopecky had racked up 26 points, earning himself the Player of the Game award. Also scoring for Mt. Hope were Santerre (11), junior Jaden Siembab (7), senior Darious Costa (3), junior Nathan Ouellette (3), senior Joshua Soares (2) and junior Xavier Costa (2).

While many of the Huskies have now been with one another for years, it was their first time playing under Mr. Grifka since middle school. Even though it had been a season of transition, Mt. Hope finished the year with its best conference record in years—15-3—and the confidence necessary to overtake the undefeated Titans.

For that, Santerre —who until this season had never won a playoff game in his Mt. Hope career — thanks his coach.

“All the credit has to go to him, because without him, we wouldn’t be anywhere.”

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