By Emily Wright, Globe correspondent

New Mission proved to be a formidable opponent throughout its premier season as a Division 2 competitor and Tuesday night was no exception. The Titans, formerly a Division 4 squad which shifted due to its deep talent pool, defeated Hopkinton (20-4) at the TD Garden in the MIAA Division 2 State semifinals, 67-56.

With a 21-4 record, New Mission is heading back to the DCU Center on Saturday; the Titans took home a Division 4 State Championship title last year and hope to go back-to-back.

“This is a great group of kids,” New Mission coach Cory McCarthy said. “As a coach, you never know if you’ll get a group of kids like that again. We’ve got one more to go, they’ll enjoy it tonight but they’ve got practice tomorrow.”

New Mission 6-5 junior guard Kachi Nzerem dropped 7 of his game-high 21 points in the first 5 minutes to give his squad a 15-10 edge, but Hopkinton came back to make it a 22-18 game after a quarter on the heels of Hopkinton shooters Jason Dlugolecki (9 points) and Wesley Ericksen (8 points) who each scored 5 in the first. The Hillers came on even stronger in the second quarter, scoring 15 points to New Mission’s 11, to make it a 33-33 ballgame at halftime.

Before heading to the locker room, New Mission sophomore center Isshiah Coleman gave a hint of what type of power fans would be seeing from the Titans squad in the second half. With 4 seconds left on the second-quarter clock, Hopkinton’s Jeff Dufficy went up for a short jumper which would have put the Hillers ahead, but Coleman’s vertical came into play and the 6-4 sophomore center swatted the shot away with a vengeance that made the Titans cheering section jump to their feet.

Hopkinton’s 6-foot forward Graham Eagan, who stands just one inch taller than his teammate who failed against Coleman three seconds earlier, went up for the same shot. He jumped straight up a foot outside of the paint, to the left of the basket, but Coleman jumped even higher with perfect control and sent the ball flying toward the ground at the buzzer.

“For a quick second I felt like a kid because I wanted to cheer like the crowd,” McCarthy said. “But Isshiah has been doing that all year…His vertical is unheralded.”

Coleman finished the game with 3 points, 4 blocks and 4 rebounds.

New Mission put away 18 points in the fourth quarter and stymied the Hopkinton's offense, allowing the Hillers just 10 points in the final quarter.