Reds rebound to send ’Dogs to curb
Jacob Bray would like to end Saturday night with an early graduation gift draped around his neck.
Something gold, such as a gold medal from the 63rd Tribune Boys Basketball Tournament would do nicely.
Quite nicely, indeed.
Silver medals that the Grade 12 student was awarded when the Welland Centennial Cougars finished second at his hometown tournament last year and at the Standard Tournament last month would bookend such a gift.
Failing the double A title at the Ontario championships, a crowning achievement to 6-foot-3 forward’s high school career.
Bray, whose team eliminated the E.L. Crossley Cyclone 65-34 to advance to the semifinals, would be disappointed to graduate without winning the overall championship at Ontario’s oldest high school tournament.
“I would feel unsatisfied, I guess,” he said. “Hopefully, we will have a shot at the finals.”
To Bray, tournaments are more than medals, competing against teams he wouldn’t normally face and playing before a packed house at Pay Hayhurst Gym. The “biggame experience,” he said, will help the Cougars come playoff time and the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) championships.
“Tournament games are more intense than regular-season games,” said Bray, the most valuable player at last February’s Review Tournament in Niagara Falls. “There are a lot of spectators, and everyone puts in their best effort.
“The games in the Tribune Tournament have the same intensity as the SOSSA games.”
He said nothing compares to the Tribune Tournament on the Cougars’ calendar.
“For us, it’s always the most-important tournament of the whole year,” he said. “We always try to put ourselves in the best position to win.
“The Tribune Tournament feels a lot bigger, and it’s also closer to home.”
Player of the game Connor Joliffe, Keenan Larmand, with 13 points apiece; and Bray, 12 points; scored in double digits as the Cougars followed up their 66-33 win over the Lakeshore Catholic Gators in qualifying-round action with another decisive performance.
Rounding out the scoring for Centennial, which defeated Crossley 67-41 in the Standard Tournament and 66-26 on the road in a league game Dec. 18, were Tyler Dilts, Reese Radobenko, seven points each; Williston Goodfellow, four; Carl Paulemont, three; Nick Yioldassis, two; and Malachi Abbott, one.
Josh Lahn, 15 points; Davison Shepherd, five; Durieal Bell, Ryan Dykstra, Liam Milan, four apiece; and Evan Dobbie, two; scored for The Cyclone.
Crossley, the consolation champions at last year’s Tribune Tournament, tipped off this year’s tournament by edging the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons 55-54 to qualify on the championship side of the bracket.
Reds 63, Bulldogs 58
At Notre Dame, Denis Morris was on top when the final buzzer sounded the end to a roller-coaster ride of a championship quarterfinal against Sir Winston Churchill.
The fast-paced game of ebb and flows had the Reds jumping out to an 11-point lead in the first half before trailing by as many as 17 points.
Denis Morris was down by 10 with 10 minutes remaining in regulation when a spirited comeback began forcing reporters covering the game to rewrite the ledes of their game stories.
“Credit to our kids, they didn’t give up,” Reds head coach Randy Conlon said. “I’ve got two Grade 10s and three Grade 11s on the floor, and they just battled.
“I don’t think they know any different. They just went out and battled like heck.
During their timeouts the Reds were reminded that time was on their side, despite what it said on the scoreboard.
“We were down 14 with 10 minutes to go and we talked,” Conlon said. “We said, ‘This game’s not over, guys, we need to chip away.’”
The Reds then started doing the “best thing we can do in that situation.
“We started making shots,” the coach said. “Basketball is a simple game in that regard.
“We did start making some shots, finally.”
Conlon, a hoops veteran well familiar with comebacks, had never seen anything like it from Denis Morris’ senior squad this season.
“Every game is a growth and experience for us,” he said. “We’re basically a junior team, a junior team from last year.”
Denis Morris, the consolation finalist at the Tribune Tournament last year, goes on to play Centennial in a semifinal today at Notre Dame thanks to points from Noah Honsberger, 16; Max Grant, Zubeer Liban, 15 each; Michael Cassidy, 13; and Michael Conlon, two.
Scoring for Churchill were Asim Serri, 26 points; Andres Sanchez, nine; Matt Johnston, seven; Ahmed Mohammed, five; and Diego Ruiz, three.
The Centennial-Denis Morris semifinal tips off at 6:30 p.m.
The 8 p.m. game will feature the winners of the quarter-finals between the A.N. Myer Marauders and Governor Simcoe Redcoats, and the defending champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Thorold Golden Eagles.