The stars could very well be aligning for another epic showdown in the WMass Division 4 Boys Basketball Tournament semifinals.
Defending champion Pioneer Valley Regional School picked up the second seed in the 16-team Division 4 field and will open up tournament play tonight with a first-round game against 15th-seeded Smith Voke at 6 at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
The Panthers are one of five local boys team to qualify for the tournament as Turners Falls joins them in Division 4 after earning the ninth seed. Frontier Regional School earned the second seed in the Division 3 field, while Mahar Regional School picked up the seventh seed, and Greenfield High School earned the eighth seed.
Pioneer (17-3) will look to go on another run this season to repeat atop Division 4 and if things play out it would mean another semifinal showdown with Drury High School (15-5), which earned the third seed in Division 4. Last winter, the Panthers beat the Blue Devils in the semifinals on a buzzer-beater by Garrett Cote before they went on to defeat Hopkins Academy in the finals. Just like last season, Drury defeated Pioneer in the regular season. Pioneer coach Scott Thayer said that earning the second seed after losing six seniors, including four starters, from last year’s team has been a testament to his players.
“Why wouldn’t it feel good?” he began. “I think it’s a by-product of the kids, the hard work and perseverance. Losing four starters and two guys off the bench from last year, and to integrate a bunch of freshmen and sophomores with our senior class, this feels good.”
Should Pioneer get past Smith Voke tonight, it would take on the winner of seventh-seeded Baystate Academy and 10th-seeded Lenox in the quarterfinals on Thursday. A victory there would send the Panthers back to Curry Hicks Cage on the campus of UMass for the semifinals and a potential showdown with Drury. Thayer said that he believes Drury may be the best team in the field.
“Let’s face it, Drury is the favorite. They have to be. No disrespect to Ware or us, but Drury has played a really hard schedule and beaten everyone they’re supposed to, including us by 21,” he explained. “Seedings are not an end, though, they’re just a starting point and the first team in front of us is Smith Voke.”
Ware (18-2) earned the top seed in the bracket and opens tonight against 16th-seeded Westfield Tech. Turners Falls (11-9) earned the ninth seed and is on the Ware side of the bracket, opening tonight on the road at eighth-seeded Lee (10-10) at 7. If Turners can upset the Wildcats, it would potentially Monson (14-6) is the fourth seed in the field.
In the Division 3 field, Frontier (17-3) slots in at No. 2 just behind favorite Sabis (16-4) in the 12-team bracket. Frontier coach Ben Barshefsky said he is pleased with the seed, which was the result of the hard work put in by the players who were left with a sour taste after falling to Monument Mountain in last year’s quarterfinal round.
“It’s a testament to the hard work the entire team put in, starting after our loss to Monument last year. “They came in very hungry from Day 1.”
The Red Hawks get a bye through the first round and will face the winner of the first-round game between seventh-seeded Mahar (13-7) and 10th-seeded Palmer (10-10) in Thursday night’s quarterfinals at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield. A win there would propel the Hawks to the semifinals at Curry Hicks Cage.
“They would love the chance to play at Curry Hicks, it’s a special place. But if that’s all we are thinking about, we will be going home on Thursday night,” Barshefsky said. “This is a mentally tough group, and we know that the entire focus will be on Palmer or Mahar.”
Frontier did stumble a bit late in the season, losing to both Smith Academy and Greenfield, which caused the Hawks to finish tied atop the Hampshire League North with the Green Wave. Barshefsky said he believes his team has refocused.
“They’re ready,” he said. “We’re excited for three good days of hard practices and we will see where we are at on Thursday,” he said.
Mahar coach Chad Softic was pleased with his seed and the accompanying home game. Mahar will host the Panthers tonight at Grzesik-Bixby Gymnasium in Orange at 7. The Senators put together a strong regular season, although they have stumbled a bit down the stretch, losing three of the last four games. After losing six or seven players from last year’s rotation, Softic said he has been happy with the way his team has come together with so many new faces.
“If you told me before the season that we would go 13-7 and get a home game in the tournament I would have been ecstatic,” he said. “I’m pretty proud of the kids to be in this spot.”
Greenfield (11-9) also gets a home game tonight when it faces ninth-seeded Murdock (10-10), which is one of the teams that moves into the WMass field from central Mass. First-year Green Wave coach Angelo Thomas said that he was pleased with the seed he received and his team will be ready to go tonight at 7 at Nichols Gymnasium.
“I thought we’d get anywhere between eight and 10, and we are excited to get a home game,” Thomas said. “We’ve seen Murdock on film. They are kind of like Smith Academy. They like to shoot a lot of 3s and get up and down the court. It all comes down to how we come out. If we come out with the want, we will have a good chance to win the game. It’s playoff basketball and everyone is 0-0 right now. The eight-nine game is always about who wants it more. I think we are pretty focused on what we need to do.”
For a complete look at the brackets see the Scoreboard on Page B2.