PROVIDENCE — For the fifth time in program history, Mt. Hope High School is a champion in boys' basketball after the Huskies held off Times2 Academy in a frenzied final few seconds, 73-72, to capture the 2025 Division III title Monday night, March 3, at the Amica Mutual Pavilion.

Top-seeded Mt. Hope used a decisive 14-2 run to start the fourth quarter en route to the narrow victory over the second-seeded Eagles.

The championship is the third D-III crown for the Huskies in the last seven years to go along with league titles they claimed in 2019 and 2022. Mt. Hope has now won five boys' basketball titles since the Bristol-Warren merger. The Huskies won the Division II trophy in 2003 and their first in D-III in 1994.

"It was electrifying," Mt. Hope head coach Jeff Grifka said of the triumph. "This team is just so much fun to watch. They played hard all season...This year meant a lot. Just the time they put in. To see where they were back in December to see where they are right now it's unbelievable."

As they've done most of the winter, the inside duo of Maleaq Roderick and Jack Thompson led the locals. Roderick had a game-best 25 points while Thompson added 22.

Of both Grifka said, "Malik just what he does and I said to him before the game I said look you have to find the weakness in their defense and you have to exploit that. And when he misses, Jack's right there. And Jack in the first quarter and the fourth quarter he just,  he was a man. I mean, he just he played hard."

The Huskies' senior guard troika of Matt MacDougall, Lucas Andreozzi and Ethan Santerre contributed seven, seven and six points, respectively.

Brian Abbruzzi added four key points off the bench and freshman Jacob Tamke, who only entered the game after Andreozzi fouled out with just over a minute left, hit what proved the deciding points on two free throws with 10 seconds remaining in the game.

"I can't believe we won," said Roderick after the victory. "We've been grinding for it all season. We knew from the  jump that we were going to be here. So we were like, just do it. As soon as I buzzer we were out."

The contest was the second thriller played between the sides this season. Mt. Hope outlasted Times2 in a wild double-overtime tilt back on January 21 in Bristol, 81-78.

Fourth quarter spree
As has been their wont all year, the Huskies used a strong second half in Monday's title game on their way to the win.

Times2 trailed early, 5-2, but eventually answered to take a 21-17 lead at the end of the first quarter as Raymond Nunez scored nine points in the period. Thompson had seven points to pace the locals. He would finish the opening 16 minutes with 11 total.

Nunez, however, picked up his third personal foul seconds into the second quarter. He went to the bench and took much of the Eagles' offense with him. Without him, Times2 went stagnant at that end of the floor and the Huskies tightened up their defense and did just enough with the ball to nose out in front, 32-31 at the break. Roderick, who had 10 points in the half, scored five points in the period.

The see-saw flow to the contest continued out of intermission. The Eagles found the range from deep, draining four 3-pointers in the third to take a 52-49 lead to the final quarter.

Andreozzi got the locals going in the fourth, canning a triple of his own to tie the game at 52 just over a minute into the quarter. That bucket set up what proved to be the pivotal moment of the game.

Times2 junior forward Yomy Garcia immediately put his side back on top, 54-52, when drove for a bucket over the smaller MacDougall. He next hovered over the Mt. Hope guard for just long enough after making the hoop to draw a taunting technical foul call.

Andreozzi converted both free throws following the infraction, spurring the locals on an 11-0 run and a 63-54 Mt. Hope lead with around three minutes remaining in the contest. Roderick had four points in the spurt, Thompson three and Santerre a pair as the Huskies built the sizable spread.

Grifka said part of the game plan was to "frustrate" a couple of the Eagles, including Garcia, to the point where they may do something that was "uncharacteristic."

He continued of the run, "If we didn't go on run and we weren't up by nine at the point who knows what would've happened at the end you know because we wouldn't have been in the position that we were in."

Roderick and Thompson added key buckets down the stretch, helping Mt. Hope maintain a lead into the last 70 seconds of the period. It was then, though, when things nearly got away from the locals courtesy of the Eagles' Justin Urey. The sophomore guard drove for a hoop-and-harm, drawing the fifth and final foul on Andreozzi. Urey made the free throw to cut the Huskies' lead to 69-66.

After a Thompson rebound/put-back bucket, Urey was at it again. The Eagles' point guard drifted to the corner for a 3, which he made and was fouled by MacDougall. Urey converted the free throw again to make it 71-70 Huskies with just 12 seconds to go.

In to the limelight stepped Tamke, who saw no action until the crucial last seconds. He was fouled by Times2 to stop the clock with 10 seconds to go, then calmly sank both at the line to give Mt. Hope a 73-70 lead.

"It is just a normal thing for me," Tamke said of his clutch shots at the line. "We work on on free throws every day in practice, like every day. That's a big thing in our team. So I just walked up there with confidence and knocked them down."

Grifka, a self-described follower of "metrics," said he immediately thought to put the freshman in because of how well he shot free throws in practice and in pressure situations he faced playing for the Huskies' junior varsity team.

The Eagles later scored the last points of the contest on a put-back of their own with two seconds left. And after an errant pass by the Huskies had a chance to take a desperate heave at the buzzer that fell short to end the game in Mt. Hope's favor.

State tourney bid
With the win, the Huskies secured the automatic bid into the upcoming Open State Championship Tournament afforded to the winners of the three division champions, who had not qualified via the power points ranking system.

Mt. Hope, which improved to 20-6 overall on the season, will be the 16th seed in states and in the first round faces top-seeded LaSalle, which was set to play Bishop Hendricken for the D-I title Tuesday night, March 4.

The Huskies will travel back to Providence to face the Rams Friday night, March 7, for a 6 o'clock tip.

"They're a good team," Grifka said of the Rams, who entered the D-I title game unbeaten in league games at 20-0. "They've the inside and outside game. They press all over the place. It's gonna bea fight. It's a chance for our kids to be able to prove that we're worthy of playing against the best team state. It means a lot for our program and we're gonna go out just like we've done every single game. We're going to prepare these kids, get them ready and then go out and execute the plan."