WORCESTER — All season long, the Hotchkiss boys basketball team talked about the importance of spurts — moments when the team’s skill and athleticism can take over a game and deliver the knockout punch.
No spurt was bigger than the one Hotchkiss embarked on late in Sunday’s NEPSAC Class A championship game.
Clinging to a one-point lead over Phillips Andover with eight minutes left, Hotchkiss used a game-defining 17-4 run to pull away from a feisty Andover squad and capture the Class A title with a 66-54 win at Worcester Academy.
MORE BOYS CHAMPIONS: Class AAA — Newman beats Hoosac | Class AA — Cushing beats Cheshire | Class B Large — St. Mark's beats Canterbury | Class B Small — Holderness beats Kingswood Oxford
“We have a drill where we teach our guys how to play in spurts,” said fourth-year Hotchkiss coach Joe Busacca. “This team has a lot of spurt ability. We get stops, we get out in transition for easy layups and dunks. That’s when our team gets going. Today we showed that in the big run.”
Junior Alonzo Archbold (19 points) was the catalyst of the run. The 6-foot-8 forward scored the first nine points of the burst, highlighted by a layup where he bowled over a defender and a right-corner 3-pointer that hit nothing but net. Fittingly, Archbold capped the critical 17-4 run. With just under four minutes left, Walker Allen zipped a pass to Archbold under the basket, and he threw down a two-handed slam, rattling the rim.
The lead had ballooned to 56-42. Phillips Andover called a timeout. And Hotchkiss players streamed from the bench onto the floor, sensing the program’s second NEPSAC title since 2021, but first under Busacca, was close to becoming official.
“I would say one word defined that run — grit,” said senior Jordan Ghee. “We’ve been putting work in since the summer. I’m just so proud of these guys for how far we’ve come and how hard we’ve worked. It’s just a blessing.”
Ghee earned MVP honors after scoring a game-high 21 points. The 6-foot-5 guard showed off his full range of shot-making throughout, hitting three 3-pointers, splashing runners, and finishing with strength around the rim. Ghee was particularly crucial in a tightly contested opening half when the two teams kept trading buckets.
Andover’s three-headed monster of Nick Hailey (20 points), Miles Clanton (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Jabari Edmonds (13 points) matched Hotchkiss through the first 28 minutes.
But the Bearcats’ depth won out in the end. In addition to Ghee and Archbold, Emory-bound senior Luke Schorr added 11 points and 6-foot-9 forward Milos Vasic provided a spark off the bench with 10 points and five rebounds. Harvard commit Preston Merrick took a backseat Sunday in the scoring department but shined as a defender and playmaker.
“We had a bunch of really good players on this team, but we had to buy in to one another,” said Busacca. “It was tough at times. In the middle of the year, we just decided there was no pecking order. Whoever was hot was hot.”
Hotchkiss (23-5) ended the year winning 12 straight and 20 of 21. The Bearcats weren’t even in the projected postseason bracket two weeks ago, but their hot stretch earned them the No. 5 seed in the bracket unveil.
One week later, Hotchkiss is the Class A champion.
“It’s just an amazing feeling,” said Ghee. “No one appreciated us. We had to win the Founder’s League to get here. It was just a mindset thing for us.”
