Hollis-Brookline's Dylan Kelley celebrates after Hollis-Brookline wrapped up Monday's 42-38 Division II quarterfinal win over Hanover in Rochester. Marco Bergskaug (14) follows behind. (Photo by Daniel Doyon)

ROCHESTER – When Ryan Kelley took over as coach of the Hollis-Brookline boys basketball three years ago, he envisioned that this would be the season the Cavaliers would take a major step in the evolution of the program.

Kelley’s vision board was right, and Hollis-Brookline is one win away from a perfect winter.

Top-seeded Hollis-Brookline embraced the slugfest that No. 4 Hanover brought into Monday night’s Division II semifinal and kept its undefeated season alive with a 42-38 victory inside the James W. Foley Memorial Community Center.

“When I got the job three years ago I said ‘watch out year 3′ because I knew what I had in freshman and sophomores,” Kelley said. “We worked for three years on the same system with the intention of getting here. This year has always been the target.”

Hollis-Brookline (20-0) now gets its chance to win the program’s first championship since 2018 when it battles No. 2 Pelham (16-4) in Sunday’s Division II title game inside the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gymnasium.

Pelham advanced with a 54-49 win over No. 3 Manchester West (16-5) in Monday’s earlier action.

“We’re ready for that championship. We’ve got five days now to get locked in and I can’t wait for it,” Hollis-Brookline senior Alton Williams said. “It feels great to be here. We’ve put in this work for three years just to get here and now we’re here.”

Dylan Kelley expanded upon Hollis-Brookline’s 17-13 halftime lead with a 3-pointer early in the third quarter before Hanover (16-5) closed to within 21-17 following a hoop from Alex Muirhead.

The Cavaliers began to open a cushion when James Arthur scored in transition and Ben LeClerc followed with a hoop. Williams (12 points) powered his way towards a hoop to give Hollis-Brookline a 31-23 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Hanover coach Denver Greene felt like his defense played well, but his offense couldn’t get anything going in hopes of putting a major dent into a deficit it battled all night. Rou Lucas had 15 points for Hanover.

“It was just not finishing contested layups,” Greene said. “They had a lot of turnovers on their end, but they did a much better job of capitalizing on ours. Sometimes we struggle on the offensive end, and unfortunately tonight was one of those nights.”

After Hanover closed to within 31-25, a Williams’ hoop was followed by one from Marco Bergskaug and a converted steal by Dylan Kelley. Williams then powered his way to give the Cavaliers a 39-28 lead.

Hollis-Brookline’s Alton Williams contests a shot  by Hanover’s Wyatt Daigle in the third quarter of Monday night’s Division II semifinals in Rochester. (Photo by Dan Doyon)

“That was two very tough defensive teams and both teams knew they had to grind it out on that side of the floor and be really, really happy with every bucket that they got and it showed,” Ryan Kelley said. “I think matchup wise, we have the tough guy with Alton and it’s really tough to stop him on the inside. I think the difference was the buckets he was able to get on the inside.”

When it was all done on Monday, Ryan Kelley was happy to have that type of game entering Sunday’s championship game against Pelham.

“It’s only going to get harder playing Pelham because they’re going to get in your shirt,” Ryan Kelley said. “The physicality of it and intensity, this was a great preparation game for that.”