NORTHFIELD – The new-look state basketball tournament reached back a full quarter-century Friday evening and served up a silver-anniversary rematch, straight out of the Golden Era of Pioneer basketball.

The 2023 Panthers encountered little difficulty in disposing of Keefe Tech of Framingham, 60-31, in their boys MIAA Division 5 Round of 32 game at Messer Gymnasium.

From a 22-10 halftime lead, the fourth-seeded Panthers (19-3) then scored more points in the third quarter alone, 23, than they had in the entire first half. Brayden Thayer (four 3-pointers, game-high 20 points), Josh Wood (five 3-pointers, 19 points, nine rebounds) and Kurt Redeker (10 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) were Pioneer's big guns.

Logan Greenlaw led the No. 29 seed Broncos (17-6) with eight points. Six-foot-seven center Patrick Chapin and Ashley Coteau each added six.

“We're coming off a high on Saturday, and it was hard to get them back up and focused. I knew we'd have a little bit of jet lag,” said Pioneer coach Scott Thayer, referring back to last weekend's Western Mass. Class D championship win over Hopkins Academy.

 “The one thing we did was defend. Giving up 10 points in a half, I don't care who you're playing, that's pretty good. Even though offensively, we were struggling to get any type of flow going, our defense kind of kept us where we wanted to be.”

In March of 1998, the Adam Harrington-led Panthers, coming off back-to-back Division 3 state titles, faced Keefe Tech in a state semifinal played in Worcester. Pioneer won that day, 57-40, to advance to its third straight Division 3 championship game, where it then dropped a two-point gut-wrencher to Weston.

The Panthers' win Friday, though several rounds earlier in the state tourney, earned them another home game in the Round of 16 Tuesday at 6 p.m. against 13th-seeded KIPP Academy of Lynn (13-9). KIPP advanced Friday by thumping Drury, the Western Mass. Class C champion, 62-34.

Wood got Pioneer started less than 30 seconds into Friday's game by dropping his first 3-pointer from the deep right corner, and the hosts scored the last six points of the quarter on two buckets by Redeker and a lay-in by Sam Glazier to lead 13-5 after eight minutes. The second quarter bogged down with Pioneer outscoring Keefe 9-5, and again it was the last six points of the half, on baskets by Brayden Thayer, Redeker and Hugh Cyhowski, that gave the Panthers a dozen-point spread at 22-10.

Keefe Tech managed only four field goals and turned the ball over 13 times before the break.

Just as he'd done to begin the game, Wood struck again only seven seconds into the third quarter with another trey. Cyhowski scored on a feed from Redeker and Thayer hit a 25-foot 3-pointer from on top, pushing the score to 32-15 and forcing a timeout from Broncos coach Kevin Bresciani with 4:58 to play.

Pioneer kept the pedal down with a 13-3 run from there, featuring two treys by Thayer and one from Wood, before Chapin scored the final basket of the quarter to make it 45-20.

“We couldn't buy a basket in the first half. We had to slow down a little bit and play with a little more poise,” said Scott Thayer. “Once the first couple went in, the floodgates opened. The whole thing was to get them to come out of their zone. We felt we had an advantage in moving the ball and getting easy shots.”

After Keefe put up the first five points of the final quarter, the Panthers went off for 10 unanswered, kicked off by threes from Wood and Thayer and finished with hoops by Alex McClelland and Redeker. Wood would stick his fifth 3-pointer of the night for good measure before the reserves took over the game in the final two minutes.

“You've gotta be pleased at this time of year,” said Scott Thayer. “It's win and advance, move on to the next round, and see what you can do. Hopefully we can find some stuff on (KIPP Academy), what they do and how they play. I've told the kids, it's nice to have an overview of the other team, but you've still gotta do what you do. We want them to kind of play our style, and when you do that, then you have an opportunity.”

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