The Hopkinton Hawks’ boys are finding their rhythm after the winter break under new head coach Liam McNicholas. On Friday night, they hosted the Hillsboro-Deering Hillcats and won decisively, 71-43.

Even though the varsity game was a stark mismatch, it offered interesting insights into two Division III programs that are at very different stages in their development, and it highlighted the work done behind the scenes by coaches to elevate their respective teams.

The last time these two met, the Hawks won similarly, 66-37, on Dec. 13, but went on to lose the two games after that. Friday’s win was not necessarily a surprising result, but it reaffirmed the Hawks’ belief in their powerful offense as they posted their highest point total of the season.

“The holiday tournament was huge for us. Because we played two D-II schools, including Bow, who’s favorite for Division II, so we put up a really good fight. They’re a big team, we’re usually the bigger team, so that was a nice humbling experience for them,” said McNicholas. “Then we got a big win over John Stark, who’s a D-II team, so coming out of that, we just had more confidence as a unit. Then team chemistry, when you can’t go on vacation and you’re stuck with the guys in the gym you’re going to get closer, but they're a really tight-knit group.”

The Hillcats, on the other hand, left this game empty-handed and still in the hunt for their first win. Led by fourth-year coach Chris Davies, H-D’s team has no seniors on the roster. Mostly composed of juniors and sophomores, they struggled with mismatches in the paint against the Hawks, but showed determination and grit on the defensive end to create lots of chances.

“We’re building a program to the point where we’re kind of starting from the basis of things, and we’re still in that process. A lot of the kids that come to us as freshmen, we’re kind of behind the eight-ball of fundamentals. We are really starting on the fundamentals,” Davies said after the game.

Despite the loss, the future of the Hillcats program looks bright. Their junior varsity team made up of freshmen beat the Hawks, 60-55, earlier in the night and the staff is building the foundations for the future, piece by piece. With the help of his assistant coaches, Mark and Peter Seymour, Davies is driving growth that may not be evident in the win-loss record but is improving day by day.

“We want to be known as a good sportsmanship program. A program that has always wanted to give that experience to the kids, that winning experience, and the community to see that. That’s really what we’re going with. I mean, wins mean everything to us, but we want to make sure the kids have the basic fundamentals,” he added.

Despite H-D’s defensive efforts, the Hawks were shooting on a different level from the perimeter. The team has had a different top-scorer every game, and Friday was freshman Tommy Dwyer’s night. He hit five 3-pointers and led Hopkinton in scoring with 20 points, while junior starting center Kristof Cauley followed with eight points.

“Offensively, I was really happy, that’s certainly the best we’ve shot from the outside. I think we might have had double-digit threes. We’ve been averaging like four a game, so the shooting’s been off to a slow start,” McNicholas said.

Hopkinton now sports a 4-2 record and will look to continue winning against one of the top teams in D-III away from home at Gilford on Tuesday. The Hillcats fell to 0-6 and will return home trying to bounce back against Conant, also on Tuesday night.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com