WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – After watching his team score just two points in the second quarter and one point in the third, Drury coach Jack Racette had a simple explanation.

 

“They’re just better,” Racette said after a 49-23 loss to Pioneer Valley in the Division 5 State Semi-Finals on Tuesday. “They were just better than us tonight. We didn’t put the ball in the basket. 

 

“Their defense has been good. If you look at their scores, they’re holding teams in the 30s and 40s and 20s every night. So give credit to them. We didn’t play well.”

 

Brayden Thayer scored 15 points, and Kurt Redeker added 14 to send the top-seeded Panthers into this Saturday’s state championship game at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, where Pioneer Valley will play second-seeded Hopedale, a 57-56 winner over Westport on Tuesday night.

 

The fourth-seeded Blue Devils took what turned out to be their last lead of the night late in the first quarter when Sam Bullett connected from the elbow on an assist from Jorge Bond (nine points, six rebounds) to make it 9-7.

 

Alex McClelland answered at the other end for Pioneer Valley to tie it and ignite a 13-0 run that spanned the first and second quarters.

 

Jackson Glazier hit a 3-pointer midway through the second to put the Panthers up, 20-9, leading Racette to call a time-out.

 

The Blue Devils came out of the break with a bucket when Hinkell put back his own miss to get the margin back to single digits at 20-11 with four minutes left in the half.

 

But that was the last Drury field goal until the fourth quarter.

 

Pioneer Valley got back-to-back buckets in transition off Drury turnovers before Thayer ended the half with a 3-pointer to make it 28-11.

 

“In the second quarter, they got leakout baskets and opened it up by 16, and that’s too tough of a hole to dig yourself out of,” Racette said. “You’ve got to keep this game … Did they score 50? I mean, that’s where we wanted the game, in the 40s. We’ve just got to put the ball in the basket.”

 

Drury’s dry spell ended early in the fourth quarter when Bullett scored from beyond the arc to make it 43-15. 

 

Bond hit a couple of fourth-quarter 3s, and Drury senior Sam Moorman scored to get to six points in his final action in a Blue Devils uniform. But the game was already out of reach before the period began.

 

Although no one in the Drury camp was feeling good about the way the season ended, the Blue Devils can feel hope for the future with much of the core from this year’s team slated to return in the 2025-26 season.

 

“That was five seniors,” Racette said of Pioneer Valley. They’ve played together. They’ve been there. We’ve got to get bigger. We’ve got to get stronger.

 

“That’s what that was. That was just 18-year-olds against 14-year-olds. We’re starting a freshman and a sophomore. They aren’t starting any freshmen or sophomores.”

 

Photos from this game here.