PAWTUCKET — The rivalry has changed over the last decade, but the games still matter.

And what comes next for the city of Pawtucket will matter even more.

In the history of Rhode Island high school sports, there are few rivalries that can come close to matching the intensity of Shea-Tolman. It didn’t matter the sport — when the Raiders and Tigers played, more than just bragging rights were on the line. 

On Monday, Feb. 9, the rivalry came to an official close. With most of the two schools’ teams already having joined forces, the boys basketball teams enjoyed one final battle. The gym was packed, the energy was high and Tolman’s 57-46 win over Shea was as much about what the future holds as what the result would do to the standings.

“This rivalry means everything,” said Tolman coach Mike Neal, who played at Shea and served as an assistant coach before taking over for the Tigers. “In Rhode Island, this is the closest you can get to … Duke-North Carolina. This is that for the city of Pawtucket.”

“It meant a lot seeing the community come together one last time for this matchup,” Tolman’s Nate Dias said. “You don’t get to play a game like this many times in your career and it just meant a lot to me and my team.”

“It’s sad to see it end, but I think we’re looking for bigger and better things,” Pawtucket athletic director Dino Campopiano said. “Our teams coming together will be a great thing that’s happening for student-athletes in our city.”

The official opening for Pawtucket’s new high school is still years away, but the Shea and Tolman athletic teams have been slowly coming together in hopes of going into the new building running rather than trying to figure out how to work together.

Some sports jump-started the process simply out of convenience. If neither school had enough bodies to field a team, finding a co-op partner wasn’t difficult. 

Before the 2025-26 school year, bringing football and boys soccer together signified the end of the two schools playing as separate teams. 

Starting in 2026-27, all Pawtucket city schools will compete as one. Girls volleyball was the last holdout from the fall, with boys basketball as the last major sport — the track teams are also split — independently being played by Shea and Tolman.

The rivalry between the schools started pre-World War II, as Pawtucket, now Tolman, saw its dynasty slowed by Pawtucket West, now Shea. Pawtucket became Pawtucket East and won the 1946 state title, and three years later, Pawtucket West claimed the 1949 crown.

In 1964, Tolman won the program’s eighth state title. It hasn’t won a basketball championship since. Shea has had more success, winning two Division II championships in the mid-1990s and another in 2022. 

Titles didn’t matter when Shea and Tolman hit the hardwood. Regular-season wins trumped any championship the other might win. Both schools’ gyms would be filled to capacity and tensions ran high whenever the Raiders and Tigers met. 

Over the last decade, the rivalry has changed significantly, and for the better.

“Seeing the history the game used to carry in 2010, 2012, where the city was a little more divided,” Neal said. “Now you see the growth over the last 14 years where it’s more unified.”

Monday’s game was exactly what Shea-Tolman basketball should be. 

The Raiders walked into Tolman as the favorite. Shea has elite size and has proved it can play with anyone in the state. The Raiders gave perennial powerhouse Hendricken a battle, and on Sunday, lost a tough overtime game at Barrington, which sits in second place in Division I.

For the Tigers, the season’s gone a bit differently. Tolman got off to a rough start and has been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride since. The Tigers knew another loss could end their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs, so the game carried juice that went beyond the rivalry — but knowing the historical nature of what was on the line helped.

“It’s the last game for Shea and Tolman ever,” Tolman’s Jaliel Ramsdell said. “We had to put our all our effort, all our pride and go get that [win].”

“To be honest, the whole city has been talking about it for a week now,” Dias said. “Fliers have been going around — Instagram posts, this game meant a lot to the city.”

The environment was unlike any you’ll see in high school basketball. Tolman’s gym is one of the smallest in the state, with Shea’s being the only one smaller. 

If there was an empty seat, it wasn’t visible. The Tolman High School band took up a section and played throughout the event. Students from both schools threw playful banter back and forth as their respective teams made a big play. 

Dias scored nine points in the first quarter, helping the Tigers get out to a 31-22 halftime lead. Shea’s defense picked up in the third quarter, holding Tolman to six points while five different players scored, cutting the deficit to four. 

The Raiders carried momentum into the fourth, tying the game on a jumper by Isaac Ibidapo 3:13 into the quarter. The team were tied at 43 with about three minutes left when Dias came up big, burying a 3-pointer that started a 10-0 run, which he capped with another bomb from the top of the key with 50 seconds left.

“Coach told me he didn’t want me to take it,” Dias said in reference to that final dagger. “But after it fell, he was happy.”

Two free throws by Tolman’s Phelix Lopez were the final points of the game and, in fact, the final points scored in this historic rivalry.

After the game, players congregated on the floor and congratulated each other on a hard-fought battle. There was no animosity or pettiness — just mutual respect shown by two teams that will soon be one.

“It’s very weird,” Shea’s Terrell Littlejohn said. “I know they’re going to keep clowning us over this W we got, but we’re going to be teammates next year.”

There’s nothing wrong with a little good-natured ribbing among teammates, especially for a group that’s already thinking about what the future could be.

As for the logistics, the Pawtucket teams (nickname still pending) are set to play varsity and junior varsity games at Tolman in 2026-27. The freshman team will play at Shea. Both Neal and Shea’s coach, James Sorrentine, who is more than familiar with the rivalry having grown up in Pawtucket and serving as an assistant at Tolman, will work as co-coaches.

“It’s going to be a problem,” Ramsdell said, using the word as a positive. “We’re going to be one of the best teams in the state.”

“It’s exciting to see all of that talent under one roof, under one gymnasium, wherever we’ll be playing, and figure out what the team looks like,” Neal said. “I think, and you heard it here first, that team will be competing with the likes of the Hendrickens, La Salles and Classicals in the upper echelons in the state for the future.”

And they’ll be doing it together. One city, two schools — for now — but one team, bringing pride to Pawtucket. 

“We’re bringing our city together,” Campopiano said. “In the end, that’s what’s more important. 

“The student athletes realize that and I think everybody sees the big picture.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Curtain closes on historic high school rivalry in Pawtucket