NORTH EASTON, Mass. — Connor Houle has been around long enough to know there’s some extra juice for big Hockomock League games. Attleboro’s Top 10 matchup at Oliver Ames on Tuesday night certainly qualified, pitting two teams that made deep state tournament runs last winter. It unleashed fun rivalries against friends on the other side, too. And if they won?
“It’s always bragging rights,” Houle said with a smile.
His bragging rights can be a little louder. No. 8 Attleboro secured a big 72-66 victory over 10th-ranked Oliver Ames behind a career game from its senior guard, who scored 32 points and made clutch plays in the final minutes to fend off the Tigers’ comeback bid. The Blue Bombardiers led by 13 in the fourth quarter before watching it shrink to a one-possession game in the final minute, but did enough to leave Nixon Gymnasium with a 6-1 record and a 5-0 league mark.
“We’re just resilient,” Houle said. “I know they’re a tough team, very well-coached. It just shows that we have fight, we can compete with any team and I’m just very proud of our team.”
It was an entertaining night at OA, where both teams displayed incredible shotmaking throughout the 32 minutes en route to a frenetic finish. Let's dive into eight standouts and takeaways from the game.
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Connor Houle, Attleboro
Class of 2026, 5-9 guard
Houle was in a zone all night. He scored 23 of his career-high 32 points in the first half, and he was absolutely money from the mid-range and in his pull-up game. He was also driving against mismatches to get tough buckets, which included one super creative finish when he adjusted in the air, and he made two 3-pointers, including an early shot-clock make that looked like a heat check. When OA played him tighter in the third quarter, Houle was happy to facilitate with four assists in the frame, including one impressive move when he crossed up a defender, spun in the lane and dumped it off to a teammate for two. He consistently made the right decisions with the ball.
“I think the thing with Connor is he makes players around him better and I think that’s a key for us,” said Attleboro coach Mark Houle, his father.
Houle sealed the game in the final 90 seconds of the fourth quarter. OA twice cut its deficit to one possession, and Houle delivered both times. The first time, he was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws to restore Attleboro’s lead to six with 1:08 to go. Moments later, after OA cut it to three again, Houle went to work on an isolation move, finishing a tough turnaround mid-range floater off the glass. On the next defensive possession, he helped force a turnover, then made two more game-sealing free throws.
“We want the ball in his hands at the end of the game,” Attleboro coach Mark Houle said. “He’s confident, he’s taken a lot of shots in practice and put pressure on himself. We have confidence in him, he’s got confidence in himself. His leadership gave everyone else confidence.”
Connor shoots around 90 percent from the free throw line for his career, and he was made for the moment on Tuesday night.
“I (have) practiced my whole life trying to hit a free throw and I think to myself that it’s a free shot, so I have to make it,” he said. “That’s what I think to myself.”
LaDainian Rodrigues, Attleboro
Class of 2026, 6-4 guard
Rodrigues continued to make a monster impact on the game with his elite athleticism, motor and physicality. He finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, which included at least three offensive putbacks. He was all over the defensive glass, where he corralled rebounds and pushed the ball in transition all night, and his constant activity and finishing ability around the rim was a problem for OA.
“Super skilled, plays hard, plays through contact,” Mark Houle said. “Athletically, he can do what he wants to do on the court and we were able to get some mismatches inside, trying to get some pin-downs for him. When he gets the ball down there, he’s hard to defend.”
Shane Hanrahan, Attleboro
Class of 2027, 6-2 guard/forward
Hanrahan tallied a career-high 17 points as he made a living out of the post. He converted a three-point play and made several difficult finishes going to his left on good footwork and balance. He also made a handful of hustle plays, including beating everyone down the floor for a bucket and another play where he saved a possession by throwing the ball off an opponent out of bounds, then taking advantage of the extra chance by making a sharp cut for a score.
Justin Grimaldi, Oliver Ames
Class of 2026, 6-3 guard
Grimaldi came alive to give the Tigers, who trailed by double digits with under four minutes remaining, a late chance with three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including two NBA range triples that cut their deficit to three. He was also a good facilitator who used his long frame and a smooth handle to create, and he got a couple more buckets on a backdoor cut and a sweet baseline fadeaway. Grimaldi, one of the best scorers in the state, finished with 24 points.
“He’s, in my opinion, probably the best player in our league, one of the best players in the area,” Oliver Ames coach Eric MacKinnon said. “They tried, they kept pushing him out and he just kept making shots when we needed them late.”
Josiah Marshall, Oliver Ames
Class of 2027, 6-1 guard
Marshall had one of the best shooting displays I’ve seen this season, hitting five 3-pointers in the first quarter on several catch and shoot looks from the corner. He finished with 26 points with eight 3-pointers, and made a big one late that helped Oliver Ames stay in it. Marshall hit a game-winning 3-pointer earlier this season in an overtime win over Mansfield, and he’s carved out an important role as a deep threat for the Tigers.
“That’s what he does,” MacKinnon said. “He’s a catch and shoot kid. He made a big 3 against Mansfield earlier in the year. He’s really coming along as a great shooter.”
Takeaways
1. The message from Mark Houle in Attleboro’s postgame locker room? Good teams find a way to win games like Tuesday, and that’s what the Blue Bombardiers did. Coughing up a double-digit lead and suddenly facing a one-possession game late in a road environment is difficult to deal with, but they showed strong mental toughness to pull it out. It helps to have Connor Houle, too. You’d be hard-pressed to find many guards who are as reliable as him in crunch time.
Attleboro, led by its veteran group of Houle, Rodrigues and Isaiah Outland, have been in a lot of big games over the years, including a run to the Div. 1 round of 8 last winter. Tuesday night wasn’t anything new for them, and they were unfazed by the pressure.
2. Oliver Ames suffered its first loss of the season with Tuesday’s defeat, but MacKinnon was proud of his group’s resilience. Like Attleboro, the Tigers have veterans that have experienced big moments – including a run to last season’s Div. 2 Final Four – and the double-digit deficit didn’t bother them. They refused to quit. If one or two plays go their way down the stretch, we might have been talking about an epic comeback victory.
“I was most proud of how we came back from that,” MacKinnon said. “They made a couple runs there and we called some timeouts to slow them down and we hit some big shots at the end to get it within a possession, two possessions, but they’re really good and they execute.
“It was a three-point game and we fouled Houle on a 3-point shot. Every time we had some momentum, they found a way to make a play. That’s a really good team. I’m proud of our fight.”
3. Oliver Ames' Jacob Lok continued to show why he’s one of the best guards in the Hockomock. Almost quietly, he finished with 13 assists as he set the table for his shooters and scorers. The 5-foot-7 guard is quick, shifty and can squeeze through tight spaces for tough buckets, and he was a pest defensively, too. His impact included a charge and several steals.
