WORCESTER – Brian Bacon, already out of uniform, wandered the room in barefeet.

Smiling, the dual Valley conference MVP fetched sodas for his teammates as they tried to describe what it felt like to come so far but still fall short, succumbing to Newburyport in yesterday’s Division 3 State final, 50-43, at the Worcester Centrum.

The bruising 6-foot-3 backbone of the Blue Raiders had, moments ago, fouled out after being surgically removed by the athletic Newburyport press. He tallied three points and struggle from the foul line (1-of-6). His touches were limited and he wasn’t the same player who spurred Hopedale to 20 consecutive wines, a DVC co-championship, the Clark Tournament title and the Div 3 CMass title.

“Obviously he’s the focal point of the offense,” said guard Kevin Webber. “When some guys don’t have the days (we’re used to them having), other guys usually step up. We just weren’t clicking today.”

Bacon’s ears pricked up and he caught his teammates’ eye.

“Yeah, we’re talking about how you blew the game,” laughed Webber.

The three members of Hopedale’s all-senior staring lineup within earshot – Bacon, Webber and point guard Jon Tosches – burst out in relieved laugher.

It might have been the experience of a lifetime, but the turnover filled game was more spilled guts than glory.

The combination of state title stakes, big league venue and relentless full-court pressure created an unseemly mix of turnovers and fouls.

“I don’t like to think (the occasion changed the game) but it’s human nature,” said coach Tony Cordani. “Playing in a game like this at the Centrum is a lot for a high school kid to take in. There’s a lot of hype to it. That probably had a little bit to do with it but Newburyport had more to do with the way we played today than anything else.”

Hyperactive nerves were contagious. Newburyport missed several layups before finally scoring via the foul line almost eight minutes into the game. The Clippers passed the affliction on to Hopedale after breaking the ice, forcing more than 30 turnovers.

Even the officials were affected. They displayed a quick whistle that had stuck Newburyport in the double bonus just seven minutes into the first half.

The two teams combine for 43 fouls and over 50 turnovers.

“Obviously when you’re in the state finals its’ going to be in your head,” said Tosches. “But coach tried to tell us that it was just a basketball game. I don’t want to say that our emotions got in the way of playing basketball. They just played better than us today.”

WORCESTER – Hope (blink!) dale. You just went through it..

That’s OK with the folks who live there. Nice little town. Quiet. Not much to do but cut the lawn, lick ice cream and live clean. Hopedale’s police department is overpaid. Nothing bad happens there. They don’t even know what juvenile delinquent means in Hopedale.

Here’s Hopedale’s boys basketball coach Tony Cordani’s take on The Hopedale Kid. “Hard-working. Well-rounded. They do well in school. They’re just nice kids.”

“On nights before a game you don’t have to worry about them having a night on the town. Not that you can have a night on the town in Hopedale. They’re home watching “Hoosiers” and eating pasta.”

The players hear the Hoosier thing a lot. They don’t take it as some hicksville insult. On the contrary. Hopedale is a throwback town with a nice basketball tradition. Walk into the Draper gym and you walk into heartland America, circa 1944.

“Oh yeah, “Hoosiers,”’ said senior Brian Bacon. “We’ve actually seen it about 11 times.”

Yesterday at the Centrum, Hopedale lost to Newburyport 50-43 in the Division 3 state championship game, a “Hoosiers” story without a happy ending. And yet, no complaints. The Blue Raiders rode a 20-game winning streak into town under first-year coach Cordani, who looks younger than some of his players.

There was disappointment but very little regret. “I’m proud of our team,” said senior forward Dan Thiffault. “We weren’t ready to quit until we heard the final buzzer.”

It was a terrific start for Hopedale, an 11-0 lead that got squeezed to 16-15 at the half. But turnovers caught up to the Blue Raiders and you could see it slipping away. With 8:22 left, it was 26-26. Five minutes later Newburyport had left town with the goods, 41-27.

“We tried to get back in it, we worked hard,” said senior Paul Kampersal. “They were just a better team.” Kampersal choose to look at the big picture. “It’s an accomplishment to make it this far. It’s the state final, you know? We’re the only Hopedale team to make it.”

The Blue Raiders started off the season 2-3 and lost by 30 to Sutton. That was the last loss until yesterday. “These guys had a great run,” said Cordani. “Their accomplishments will overshadow their disappointment.”

When it was over Kampersal went over to console senior Wes Stafford. “I kept telling him if he gave 110 percent he can’t be down.” These kids are like that. They really care about each other.

“What I’ll remember is the way we stuck together,” said Bacon. “One guy falls down, the other picks him up.”

The incredible journey to the Centrum woke up the sleepy town a bit. “Everybody got behind the team, it was unbelievable,” said Kampersal. They’ll toss a nice little banquet for the team now and get on with their lives. But the 199-2000 team will always be special. “We had a great season,” said Kampersal. “We’re not going to cry about it.”

They’d come this far, where no Hopedale team had traveled before. So no crying allowed.

Another thing. Anybody wanna watch “Hoosiers” again?

HOPEDALE – The night was raw and the main drag in town was, as always, quiet.

This is downtown Hopedale, where a regular just stopped into the Hopedale House of Pizza and ordered “the usual.” Two doors down is a small shack with a “Hopedale Police Department” sign outside. Right next door is the post office.

Every few minutes a new set of headlights passes by, and that’s about it. A bustling metropolis this is not.

“A hotspot in Hopedale? You’re in it bud,” says Kevin Webber as he swishes a jump shot after Hopedale High’s basketball practice yesterday.

The George Albert Draper gymnasium is a cozy spot, where the bleachers are only four rows deep and the four ceiling fans, with foam balls stuck in them, look lie they came from a different era. The place is lined with blue and white banners, and today, the boys basketball team is looking to add a special one to the walls.

While the buzz in the gym comes from the ventilation system in the back corner, the buzz through this town of barely five square miles is all about basketball. In a Hoosiers-like story with a MetroWest twist, Hopedale meets Newburyport in today’s Division 3 state final at the Worcester Centrum (12:30 p.m.).

“The town is behind us,” says senior starter Paul Kampersal, who moved here from Millville two years ago. “It’s a small town, everybody knows everybody.”

And everybody knows that today is a speciall day because tiny Hopedale (school population around 300) is competing on a state-wide state. The final tune-up came yesterday as Coach Tony Cordani put his team through a light practice that started at 4 p.m.

By 5:15, the squad was sitting at center court, listening to Cordani deliver the Newburyport scouting report. A brief film session in the locker room followed and Cordani then sent the team on its way.

“I have a good feeling about it,” the 34-year old Cordani said as his team filed out. “Some things are definite. These guys are going to show up and play hard. We’ve been playing in some pretty big games for a while now.”

This one is the biggest.

Hopedale, winners of 20 in a row, will be looking to play a slow down game. That’s what you do when three of your starters – Kampersal, Brian Bacon and Dan Thiffault – are 6 foot 3. Meanwhile, Newbyurport, which posted a 21-2 record and plays in the Cape Ann League, likes to run.

Hopedale has never won a state title in basketball. The last crown delivered to town was a 1993 field hockey championship.

The team bus is scheduled to leave the high school, where construction is currently taking place to add a new wing, at around 10:45. That’s about two hours after some members of the team will be guests on a Milford radio sports talk show.

“The buildup to the contest has been special. The team was given a grand send-off yesterday at a school pep rally, as principal Paul Thorp and athletic director Karen Keough delivered speeches and the school’s cheerleaders taught the student body new cheers. Town-wide, players have been showered with support. “Everybody’s wishing us good luck,” says Kampersal.

In the X’s and O’s department, Cordani told his team rebounding and defense will be the keys to the contest. Newburyport prides itself on rebounding and has out-rebounded every opponent thus far in the tournament.

“As far as who is the underdog and who is the favorite, they’re a good team and they have their strengths and we’re a good team and we have our strengths.” Cordani said diplomatically. “It’s going to come down to whoever plays to their strengths.

On thing’s for sure: Hopedale won’t be lacking for support.

While the downtown area was quiet last night, it should be near-barren come this afternoon. Multiple fan buses are set to deliver many in the town for the opening tip.

“A lot of people are coming to the game,” says Cordani, in his first year as coach, ninth overall at the varsity level. “There’s a buzz around town. People are talking about the team.”

WORCESTER – The high rebound dropped into the hands of Hopedale’s Dan Thiffault midway between the foul line and the baseline. With no defenders between him and the basket, Thiffault didn’t hesitate as he spun around with his back to the rim looking to pass away from the hoop.

“At that point in the game, it seemed that we were rushing things,” explained Thiffault of the rebound with 8:45 remaining and his team ahead by 16.

“With the way that they could score so quickly, sometimes in that situation the two points can hurt you. We had to slow the game down as much as possible. We had to keep it under control.”

The left Thiffault’s hands for the outside safety of Jon Tosches, who in turn tossed the ball to a wide-open Wes Stafford in the left corner. Seeing Brian Bacon lurking down low, Stafford guided the ball in his direction. Bacon, Hopedale’s master of the “no-look” passes, quickly zipped the ball with a reach-around assist back to Thiffault alone under the basket for an easy lay-up.

It has been this type of cognizance, patience, and unselfishness that has allowed the Blue Raiders to systematically dissect opponents on their way to 20-consecutive victories.

Yesterday afternoon at the Worcester Centrum the Hopedale half-courters drained the gas from another high-octane opponent, repelling Western Mass. Power Pioneer Valley in the Division 3 state semifinal, 60-44.

“If you fall behind, you hope things settle down and you go back to what you’ve been doing all season. You try not to panic, but you still want to remain in the game. Hopefully you don’t wait too long.”

Cordani’s game-plan, give or take a tinker here or there, has been one of a ball-control, time-consuming slow down offense complemented by an aggressive cover-the-seams defense.

“We’re not the type of team that blows people out. We expect the other teams to go on runs, but our guys are all seniors and have great composure. They know that when we get down a little that it’s not the end of the world.”

A Blue Raiders team that Tosches and Thiffault, echoing their coach, “has not blown anyone out since January,” now is at 22-3 and is in the first-ever state basketball final in the program’s history.

An early burst of Blue Raiders’ 6-foot-e forward Paul Kampersal was more than the Panthers could handle at the start of the game. With an assortment of bank-shots off the glass and foul-line turnaround jumpers, Kampersal exploited the undersized defense on him for 12 of Hopedale’s first 21 points.

Pioneer Valley’s offense, settling for short-range jumpers that at times seemed off-balance, struggle through a scoring drought that lasted almost 10 minutes long in the first half.

“We were trying to get the ball into the paint and into Kevin Harrington’s hands,” confirmed Pioneer Valley Head coach Perry Messer. “Bu they wouldn’t let us get the ball inside. They seemed to have the clock in their favor and we were doing things that is uncharacteristic of us and scrambling a little bit.”

Stafford’s up-fake and short hook sot boosted Hopedale’s lead to 23-4 with 3:01 left in the half. Messer, like Cordani, reluctantly tuck with his game-plan before relenting and applying a full-court press in desperation to disrupt Hopedale.

Instant gratification for Messer – in the form of six points in 44 seconds – helped cut the once-runaway 19-point Blue Raiders lead to just 10 points in the final 1:48.

“It was our type of game, but they got transition points that got them back into the game a little bit,” Cordani said. “It happened at a good point in the game because we were able to get into the half and calm flow. We had some costly turnovers right before the half because we were trying to do too much.”

Kampersal, who had 14 first-half points and led all scorers in the game with 21 points, said, “Halftime allowed us to settle down and relax. We knew that if we could settle and relax that we could beat them.”

Refreshed and once again relaxed, Hopedale’s defense did not allow Pioneer Valley to run. And the Blue Raiders offense opted for a mistake-free attack.

“We wanted to make sure that we had total control of the game,” said Hopedale point guard Kevin Webber. “We went out of the first half like we did against Nipmuc a few games ago. When Pioneer Valley got back into the game, I think it helped us keep our focus.”

“We know that we are a poised team and we didn’t want to give them momentum again. When they had momentum and applied pressure, they were trying to take us out of our element.”

“The coach helps keep us in it,” Webber added. “Sometimes we are even going too slow for him. We’re pretty comfortable with that type of game.”

The Panthers staged a final comeback bid, but could not get closer than 10 points.

“We did enough tings wrong at the beginning of the game to hurt us,” said Messer, whose team concluded its season at 16-9. “We just could not get over the hump. They made the crucial shots when they had to.”

Cordani, like his team, kept his composure under the bright lights of the Centrum.

“At this point of the season, you just put your game-plan together and just go out and play the game. I was a little nervous at the beginning of the game, but these guys have risen to the occasion every time and I had no reason to doubt them.”

HOPEDALE – Not too many basketball people in Central Massachusetts know much of the team from Newburyport, and that seems to be fine with head coach Kevin Lucy as his 21-2 Clippers spend their final day of practice today preparing to battle Hopedale in tomorrow’s Division 3 state final.

“After watching them play on Wednesday, I’d say that we almost would have to play a perfect tame to beat them,” Lucy replied, deflecting attention away from his team and back to its opponent, Hopedale. “We’ve got our hands full with them.”

Lucy, who has spent the last 21 of his 29-year coaching career at Newburyport, is not listed as the school’s football coach but is certainly assuming a football “tell-em-nuthin” mentality.

There’s an old story about a local football coach who was asked to trade game films with an opponent. How was he supposed to know that all of the scoring plays had been spliced out, and that the game clock and score was inconsistent and out of order?

“We’re just an average team that likes to play basketball,” Lucy offered.

Hopedale (22-3) also refers to itself as a team without superstars, as many are called upon and many deliver. However, average teams don’t find themselves playing in mid-march for the state title.

“Well, it isn’t the seventh wonder of the world that we are here. We’re usually pretty sold,” he admitted, adding “but you do have to have a little luck. We won our game in the first round by three points. One shot and we could have lost that game.”

Lucy many not wish to divulge that his team has the make-up of a running club, scoring an impressive 45 points to storm back from a 15-point halftime deficit to stun Cardinal Spellman, 67-58.

The Clipper’s strength seems to be in point guard Harley Davis, the Cape Ann Player-of-the-Year, and forward Chris Sheehan. The duo combined for 31 of Newburyport’s 45 second-half points, helping the Clippers surge on a 21-5 run in just over six minutes to begin the second half.

We had two choices when we were down 15 at halftime. We could have surrendered or found a way to win. We just took the rest of that game possession-by possession. We were able to stop them with our defense and we were fortunate enough to win the game.

“But that’s ancient history now.”

In a 67-65 overtime win against Amesbury earlier in the season, Davis scored 22 points, grabbed 21 rebounds, assisted on 11 other baskets, and stole the ball seven times. In an “off game against Cardinal Spellman, Davis scored seven points, with 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Sheehan, who scored 26 against Cardinal Spellman, has been averaging over 20 points a game in the tournament.

Those do not sound like an average player.

“It would be impossible to run against Hopedale. Some teams have tried to make us run a little bit but they are so big and they rebound so well. How will we get a rebound? Hey, you can’t win unless you’ve got the ball.”

The Blue Raiders have built a 20-game winning streak by corralling important rebounds and being deliberate with their “see-who-is-scoring” offense. Like Hopedale, Newburyport, according to Lucy, is heading to its first state final.

“We’re usually pretty good. As I said, it’s not the seventh wonder of the world,” declared Lucy, whose 15-member roster includes five seniors. “We’ve been on a good run. We’re calling it the “World Tour” because we started at the Tsongas Center, played in the Fleet Center taking the visiting NBA team’s locker room, and we’re going to Worcester.

“I felt good about it until I saw Hopedale. They seem to be bigger and stronger.”

“That (No.) 32,” he said, referring to Hopedale center Paul Kampersal, “is somebody that I don’t know if anybody in our town can cover. We’re small, our biggest guy is 6-foot-2. I was impressed by the way 32 catches the ball and goes right up with the ball. You don’t see that often. Usually kids try to take that dribble before shooting.”

“And then there is (no.) 15, he’s a man,” exclaimed Lucy of Blue Raiders forward Brian Bacon. “He gets to every rebound and loose ball. Does he play football? He looks like a tight end.”

Ironically, two days before the biggest basketball game in his school’s history, Lucy wondered about football.

WORCESTER – Behind the wooden bleachers and down the darkened staircase, long hollow hallways echoed with the action played above. Here, in the underbelly of WPI’s Harrington Auditorium, the muffled noise in the distance was broken when a smiling Jon Tosches asked teammate Brain Bacon if he got enough rest in Hopedale’s 48-40 CMass semifinal victory over Ayer.

Bacon, the Blue Raiders’ leading scoring and rebounder, spent the bulk of his night deep in foul trouble, shallow in playing time. Undaunted, persistent Hopedale worked around the absence of Bacon, with Tosches providing 17 points from the outside and Paul Kampersal leading the team with 18 inside.

“What’s nice about this team is that every game someone else seems to step up on offense or on defense,” proclaimed three-year varsity veteran Dan Thiffault. “We are really a good team in the sense of a team. We don’t have anyone that we rely on too much.”

Preparing for this afternoon’s Division 3 state semifinal game against Pioneer Valley Regional High School (in the Worcester Centrum 4:30 P.M.), the Blue Raiders spent last night eating together and watching Hoosiers – where the small school underdog always wins at the end – “for about the 10th time” according to Tosches.

“It’s become our good luck charm,” Tosches states.

Luck and superstitions aside, the team unanimously points to a switch made when the season began as a 2-3 experiment between Hopedale’s first “new” head coach in 30 years, Tony Cordani, and a returning core of experienced players.

“It was tough at the beginning of the year because he didn’t know us and we didn’t know him,” Tosches said. “The first day of practice, I didn’t know what to expect. It was tough to say the least. He had us running around, but it’s paid off. That’s what has gotten us this far – our work ethic."

“Now, he’s given us all of the speeches like, “Keep your eye on the prize,” and “Don’t just practice to practice” because we are going for a state title.”

After five games, Cordani figured it was best to unload the “run-and-gun” offense to make way for a patient half-court attack on offense and scrappy “stun-and-shun” defense.

“It was evident after our first game with Sutton (a 30-points loss) that the run-and-gun would not work for us,” explained point-guard Kevin Webber, who like Thiffault is also a senior in his third year on the varsity team.

“We knew at 2-3 that if we really wanted to win that we had to play a sound, fundamental basketball game. Defense and rebounding became the focal points in our game. The rebounding came with our size advantage, and most of our games since then have not been high scoring but defensive games for us.”

Since incorporating1 a tight, defensive system that is reinforced by enthusiastic substitutes off the Blue Raiders’ bench, Hopedale has stifled 19 consecutive opponents into submission.

“We get control by making it boring,” said Tosches. “I’d like to play run-and-gun but our team just doesn’t fit that style of play.”

“We walk the ball up the floor, slowing it down to get good looks. Once we see the other team walking the ball up the floor slowing it down, that’s when we know that we’ve got them,” Tosches said.

Webber added, “If our offense isn’t working, we can always rely on our defense. That’s what keeps us in games. It may seem to some people like we play boring basketball, but it’s the Centrum. If you call that boring, it’s fine with me.”

With a tougher-than-expected 51-45 win over Nipmuc in the quarterfinals, and victories over Ayer and Sutton, the Blue Raiders (21-3) earned their first Division 3 CMass title since Don Klocek’s 1990-91 team finished 19-5.

“We all went to see Nipmuc play at Keefe Tech and we were pretty excited when they won and we would be facing them because of our rivalry with them,” Tosches recalled.

“We knew that it would be crowded and we wanted to put on a show. We were ahead, but then they made it interesting. It was probably a good wake-up call for us. We knew after that game that we had to work to win.”

This year’s Hopedale team equaled the success of the 1990-91 team by also winning the Clark Tournament. Klocek’s 1984-85 team that finished at 19-4 won the Clark and CMass 3 tournaments as well.

In handing top-seeded Sutton (21-3) all three of its losses this season, the Blue Raiders waited until the Sammies stopped running.

“We have not been too nervous because we know that the other team will have their runs. Even when we get down, we know that it’s a long game. We’re all seniors that have been around for a while,” Tosches said.

In the district final, Thiffault, who had 16 combined points in the wins over Nipmuc and Ayer, scored a game-high 17 points. Bacon, Kampersal and Thiffault have been the leading scorers in the three district games.

“Obviously, when you don’t have a go-to guy it helps because there is not more pressure on one player than on another,” Webber said. “If you have one guy and he has an off-night, you’ll be in trouble. For us, we never know who will step up and that makes it exciting.”

With contributions off the bench from players such as Wes Stafford and Jason Chan, Hopedale maintains a high level of defensive intensity.

“Our bench is always in the game,” claimed Webber. “They don’t take a second off. They are like crazed fans and we're fortunate to have those guys. When they come in, we don’t lose anything, and in practice they work hard. They are vital to the team’s success.”

A success story guided by defensive elbow grease and old-fashioned work ethic.

“I find it weird that all of us on the team would be hanging out even if we didn’t play basketball,” said Tosches. “Basically we’re just guys going to the park and playing hoops. Friends playing hoops.”

WORCESTER – Seniors Jon Tosches, Paul Kampersal and Dan Thiffault may have led Hopedale in points scored, but it was the dynamic play of forward Wes Stafford that truly sparked the Blue Raiders to victory in Saturday’s 59-46 CMass Division 3 title win over Sutton.

An agile yet sturdy 6-feet, Stafford never stopped trying to make something happen, even when the Blue Raiders had reached a seeming stalemate early on in the game.

Constantly moving and cutting with slashing effectiveness, he proved to be the easy assist to his teammates. A few minutes into the half, Stafford used a screen perfectly, rolling off his teammate to receive a pass for the layup. Fouled on the attempt, he made one of two free throws.

The under-hyped Blue Raider exhibited further displays of explosiveness at the close of the first half. Rebounding a missed 3-pointer by Tosches, Stafford executed a no-look, over-the-head reverse scoop shot which hit, of course, nothing but net.

The Sutton defense could do nothing but gape.

In Hopedale’s last possession and with the seconds whittling down, Stafford soared for an offensive rebound and drew a foul just before the halftime buzzer sounded. He sunk both free throws to push the lead to five.

The five points in the box score might look like a minimal contribution, a basket and a couple of free throws. But Stafford’s energy and enthusiasm proved crucial to Hopedale’s efforts, and his spectacular moves stood out in a fast-paced game full of outstanding play.

The proverbial “spark plug” may not get much individual attention, but his actions translate into some of the most important statistics in the box score – the win.

HOPEDALE – The echoing basketball stopped bouncing every few minutes, freezing Paul Kampersal and his nine Hopedale teammates in place inside the closed-door gymnasium.

The silence was as unnerving as the missing array of vehicles, sure to line the narrow curving streets outside Draper Gym, and the quiet wooden bleachers, destined to be packed shoulder-to-shoulder for tonight’s Dual-Valley Conference game against league-leader Sutton.

Instead, Hopedale head coach Tony Cordani interrupted the evening practice, directing his team through offensive plays designed to help negate the pressing defense of the active Sammies.

The 6-foot-5, 210 pound Kampersal moved between the low-post and high-post. Always a tenacious rebounder, Kampersal was not convinced until this season that he was a low-post player who could score.

“I never liked playing inside,” he admitted. “I've always been timid and afraid to get banged up. I’ve been told one too many times by coaches to get down low, get underneath. I always wanted to be a point guard, or a shooting guard, and I was always fascinated by dribbling around people.”

“I felt comfortable taking outside shots, but I was always five to six inches above everybody else. Big guys always want to be on the outside.”

A broken finger in an open gym prior to the start of the season, and five stitches received early in the year changed Kampersal.

“This year has been different. I developed an attitude that I could still play after getting banged up. Now I’m actually staying down low and I realized that if I did that, it’s going to help the team. They don’t need me on the outside shooting three’s. They need me rebounding.”

Kampersal (averaging 8 rebounds a game) has improved his scoring to over 10 points a game – with 18 scored against his former school, Blackstone-Millville Regional, along with 22 against Nipmuc the previous game.

“He’s stepped it up significantly the last couple of weeks,” said Cordani, whose Blue Raiders are 8-3 overall, but are 6-1 and in second-place in the DVC just a game behind undefeated Sutton (7-0 in league play).

“He’s been a strong rebounder, but early in the year he was settling for the outside shot. He’s capable of hitting it, but he’s much tougher when he’s closer to the hoop. We wanted him to establish an inside game.”

Kampersal complements the play of leading scorer and rebounder, Brian Bacon, and gritty forward Dan Thiffault.

“Our frontcourt is as big as anybody in the league and that’s our strength,” declared Cordani, who coached 10 years at Tri-County and led Hopkinton’s boys team to 19 wins a year ago. “And now our guards are steadily improving. We’ll be underdogs against Sutton but we have nothing to lose. I think we can beat them. It’s like I tell the kids, anything can happen on any given night.”

For Kampersal – a senior playing for his third coach in three years – this year’s plays are just an updated version to add to an already expansive personal playbook.

“It seems like a new program and new set of plays every year.”

Kampersal played at BMR his freshman and sophomore years for disciplinarian Brad Monroe.

“He taught me everything I know and I wouldn’t be close to where I am today if he and Keith Ducharme didn’t put the time and effort into teaching me. Anything Brad Monroe told me, I did. If he said rebound, I’d rebound. I just followed him. He brought out the best in us,” stated Kampersal.

Monroe recalled, “He was a lanky, tall kid making plays that these kids can make. He was using the put-back and blocking shots, big-man plays. At BMR we didn’t have players like that.”

“I wasn’t happy to lose him because we had him slated as our junior center, but I was pleased to find out that he would be playing for Don Klocek.”

To be closer to his grandmother’s house, Kampersal transferred to Hopedale for what would be the final season of Klocek’s 30-year career at Hopedale.

“I came over in October of last year and I had to get a waiver. My biggest concern was not being able to play basketball, but I knew the day before tryouts that I could try out,” said Kampersal.

Klocek said, “He came off of the bench and did a good job as our sixth man. He’s a very good rebounder who helped us on the boards. As the year went on, he became more comfortable with the system and seemed to get better.”

Kampersal, whom Monroe termed an “attentive kid,” has combined the lessons of his three coaches.

“I learned mental toughness from Coach Monroe, and became more confident under coach Klocek. Now coach Cordani just builds that up. It’s my last year and I want to make a big impact. I haven’t applied yet, but I want to go to college and I hope people are looking.