'With any luck we may see them again': Clark Tournament final ends in double-OT thriller

WORCESTER — After the Hopedale boys basketball team took a 38-31 lead over David Prouty in the fourth quarter on Saturday night, the Blue Raiders could taste it.

As the Clark Tournament returned for the first time since 2020, Hopedale hoped to claim the Small School championship and return home with first-place hardware for the first time since 2004.

But David Prouty had other plans.

On three separate occasions across the fourth quarter, first overtime and second overtime, David Prouty junior Judelius Neiray scored two points in the final moments. In the fourth and first OT, Neiray’s points tied the game and forced more action.

Neiray’s final points, however, proved to be the dagger as a layup with 19.8 ticks left in double overtime sealed a 51-49 win over Hopedale in front of a pack house at Kneller Athletic Center.

With the victory, David Prouty remains undefeated on the season (21-0) and will head into the Division 5 playoffs as the No. 2 seed. Hopedale (16-5) finds itself one slot lower in the D5 MIAA bracket with a third seed.

“We had opportunities in regulation and overtime and both teams played hard. Their team made one more play than we did,” Hopedale head coach Tony Cordani said. “With any luck we may see them again.”

Key plays

Following two made free throws from senior captain Cody Dicken, Hopedale turned a one-point lead heading into the final eight minutes into a seven-point advantage in the final quarter.

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David Prouty proceeded to score seven of the game’s next nine points to tighten the margin but found themselves trailing 43-41 with 16.4 seconds left and Hopedale staring down a one-and-one free throw situation.

A miss on the first attempt opened the door for David Prouty as Neiray hit two clutch free throws with 2.1 ticks to go in regulation to send the game into overtime.

“It’s a big game, there are a lot of people there,” Dicken said. “It’s pretty nerve-racking but once you get used to it, it’s pretty fun.”

A Dicken layup to open up overtime made it 45-43 for Hopedale yet neither team scored again until Neiray hit a layup with 2.1 seconds left to force another OT.

Two free throws from Hopedale senior captain Andrew Deppe in double overtime tied the game at 49 apiece but, once again, Neiray was nails as the junior connected on a layup in the waning moments before a final offensive possession for the Blue Raiders came up empty.

“We were all just trying to give it 100 percent and get it done,” Deppe said. “But we couldn’t get it done today.”

History lesson

Cordani formerly coached basketball at Tri-County before taking over the reins at Hopedale in 2000.

He had never heard of the Clark Tournament until scorekeeper Ken Mooradian gave Cordani an inside scoop on basketball in Central Mass.

“One of the first things he said to me was ‘Don’t worry about the MIAA tournament, you have to get to the Clark Tournament,’” Cordani said.

The Clark Tournament is an end-of-the-season tourney where some of the top basketball teams from the area square off at Clark University in Worcester.

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A few years after learning about the Clark Tournament, Cordani saw Justin Lewis and the Blue Raiders win the event in 2004.

“We won the Clark Tournament and as we get into Hopedale we are met by police escort and fire trucks,” Cordani recalled. “I got a pretty good idea about what it was all about back then.”

Deppe remembers attending the popular tournament as a kid, watching along as former Hopedale star and Daily News Athlete of the Year Brian Espanet led the Blue Raiders to a finals appearance in 2017.

“It’s nostalgic because coming here as a kid it was always crazy to watch,” Deppe said. “So being a part of it is really cool.”

By the numbers

7: The amount of times a Clark Tournament championship game has gone into double overtime. The first time was in 1949 when Oxford beat Lunenburg, 58-56. Prior to Saturday’s thriller, the last time was in 2009 when Groton-Dunstable defeated Hudson, 55-54.

17: With the win, David Prouty increases its claim as the team with the most Clark Tournament titles at 17.

16: Hopedale senior David Manning scored a team-high 16 points in the loss.

They said it

Despite the defeat, Hopedale hopes that reaching the finals and taking a team like David Prouty to the wire will serve them well as the Blue Raiders enter the MIAA tournament.

“If we’re going to make a run in the tournament,” Cordani said, “we’re going to have to play games like this.”

“That’s a really good team and we might even see them down the road,” Dicken said. “So it’s nice to play in big games.”

What’s next?

David Prouty awaits the winner of No. 31 Mount Everett Regional and No. 34 Neighborhood House in the Division 5 Round of 32.

Hopedale will face the winner of No. 30 Millis or No. 35 Innovation Academy in the Div. 5 Round of 32.

Tommy Cassell is a senior multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tcassell@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @tommycassell44.

This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Hopedale loses to David Prouty in Clark Tournament championship game