As the final few minutes of Thursday afternoon’s game between Chicopee Comp. High School and South Hadley High School came to an end, Chicopee Comp’s head coach Gavin Miller knew it was going to take a team effort to close out one of the team’s toughest matchups of the season.
Yet, Comp had been here before. The Colts knew what they had to do to secure the grind-it-out victory.
“We’ve been down to start the fourth [quarter],” Miller noted. “We’ve been through it. We’ve been battle tested in every possible scenario. So, I just looked at them to start the fourth and said, ‘We’ve been here. Where can we push it from here?’ I think the experience of the season helped out some on that one.”
For Comp, defense was the deciding factor, bringing home the victory 51-45 in the first slate of games in Blake Arena for the 2026 Panini Hoophall Classic, earning a hard fought victory in a grind-it-out game for both teams.
In a game that saw Comp shoot just 29% from the field and South Hadley 14% from beyond the arc, it was clear that the contest would come down to whichever team could find a spark of offense late. Luckily, for Comp, Elijah Kleps found that spark late in the third quarter.
Down nine early in the second half, and their offense appearing stagnant and sloppy all game, Chicopee Comp used Kleps’ big night to go on a 14-6 run to bring the team back within one by the fourth quarter. When the final buzzer sounded, Kleps had tallied 15 points and five rebounds, being the offensive engine that would decide the defensive bout.
“It brought the energy up a lot to go on that run in the third,” Kleps said. “I was able to win the game for my team, it just felt great.”
Before the run late in the game, South Hadley was in full control through the first half. Stifling defense and a stellar performance by Noah Hambley on both sides of the court guided the Tigers to a seven-point lead as the halftime buzzer sounded.
Appearing in the driver’s seat, South Hadley were not able to respond to the Colts’ late offense, with their offense going cold and unable to find the bottom of the net, mustering up only 19 second half points. Hambley finished the game for South Hadley with 18 points, two steals and a block, with teammate Tim Loughrey adding a 16 point-13 rebound double-double.
“We were able to stick together down the stretch,” Miller said. “We worked really hard to compete, and I think that’s our ultimate goal. Finishing the game strong.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Comp’s Modesto Galindrez drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the team a two point lead with about two minutes left in the game. After a stop on the defensive end, Jacoby Harvey found himself open in the corner, where he buried another three for the Colts, putting the team up five. Brody Fay sealed the victory for Comp after a huge block, keeping the game out of South Hadley’s reach.
Miller, getting his first ever Hoophall win, knew his team had the ability to pull out tough victories from the start.
“We’ve had this all year,” Miller said. “Obviously, this atmosphere is completely different but having (the players) have this experience is great.”
Chicopee Comp now sets its sights on a bigger prize, hoping to conclude its season with a championship in the Division II tournament in Massachusetts. Losing in the second round last year, the Colts look to finish strong and have a good showing in the state, clearly weighing heavy on some of the players’ minds.
“We know what type of team we have,” Kleps said. “We take it game by game, but we do look ahead a lot. We’re looking forward to the playoffs and we hope to play our best basketball by then.”