Phoenix rise again
St. Francis defends Standard Tournament championship; Greater Fort Erie wins B final
Tyrell MacLennan was a little tired as he stood under the scoreboard inside the gymnasium of St. Catharines Collegiate.
But the 6-foot-3 St. Francis Phoenix guard wasn’t too tired to proudly display the gold medal around his neck for winning the Standard High School Basketball Tournament for the second year in a row.
Nor was he too exhausted from running up and down the court to hold the trophy he received for being selected as the most valuable player at the senior boys showcase.
And he wasn’t too tired to bask in the glow on the numbers on that scoreboard: Home, 69; Guests, 39.
One of several key components in a powerhouse that believes great offence begins with outstanding defence, MacLennan was as proud of the lower number as he was with the points No. 1 seed St. Francis scored against the second-seeded Welland Centennial Cougars in the championship final Friday night at Collegiate.
He shared credit for the MVP award and selection to the first allstar team to his teammates.
“It’s really great, but I owe it to my teammates,” MacLennan said after playing in his third Standard Tournament. “It’s all about the name on the front of the jersey and the score on the scoreboard.”
Despite the score, MacLennan regarded the whistle-to-whistle win as a defensive victory.
“This was mostly about our defence,” he said. “We work a lot on our defence, we take a lot of pride in our defence, our 2-2-1 press.
“That’s what puts a lot of pressure on teams.”
MacLennan came into the game determined to knock Centennial out of the game early and build up a lead after that.
“The coach always says get the teams in the first three minutes and then just bury them,” he said.
MacLennan, who scored 11 points in the convincing win, suggested the MVP selection committee would have been hard-pressed to find anyone on the Phoenix roster who wasn’t worthy of the honour.
“Anybody could have won it, everyone had great games,” he said. “There was different player every game.
“Our team is so deep, so dynamic.”
MacLennan said everyone contributed, not just himself and fellow all-stars Jack Riddell, first team; Mark Mesiha, first team; Sam Braithwaite, second team; and Juan Guerrero, second team.
“Everyone contributed,” he said. “If you look at the scoresheet, you’ll see that we’re well-rounded.
“Everyone was doing their job to help contribute to the team.”
Cougars head coach Phil Mosley had difficulty saying whether the outcome was a reflection of too much Phoenix or too little on the part of the Cougars.
“That’s a tough question, I would say a little of both,” he said. “We played a very good basketball team, and they don’t make very many mistakes and they capitalize on any mistakes you make.
“I wish our kids would have played a little bit better, but they maybe caught up in a little bit of nerves.
“That’s not our normal look. We usually shoot the ball a little bit better, we usually finish better at the rim
“So maybe it was just one of those nights when we didn’t have it and St. Francis did.”
Centennial was playing without 6-foot-2 guard Keenan Larmand, a first-team all-star was out of the lineup after injuring an ankle in a semifinal against Sir Winston Churchill the night before.
“We missed him, he’s a dynamic player, he does a lot of things for us, but I still thought we had enough with the guys we had healthy,” Mosley said.
“Again, I just think it wasn’t our night.”
Riddell, the MVP at last year’s tournament, led all scorers with 21 points. Guerrero and Mesiha had 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Phoenix.
Reese Radabenko, with 12; and second-team all-star Jacob Bray, 10; were top scorers for the Cougars.
We missed him, he’s a dynamic player, he does a lot of things for us, but I still thought we had enough with the guys we had healthy. Again, I just think it wasn’t our night.”
Cougars head coach Phil Mosley
Gryphons 57, Flyers 53
Niagara’s newest high school wasted no time filling its trophy case when it came to competing at one of the region’s oldest tournaments.
Ethan Vannatter scored 14 points, Joel Coopman 12 and
Austin Ladouceur and Bailey Wrangler 10 each to help the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons to a 57-53 victory over the Eden Flyers in the consolation championship at the Standard High School Basketball Tournament.
Eighth-seeded Fort Erie went on to win the opening game of a championship doubleheader Friday night at St. Catharines Collegiate after trailing 10th-seeded Eden 24-23 at halftime.
“A lot of stuff went right, our younger guys continue to impress, two of our starters who played the majority of minutes are Grade 10s,” assistant coach Dave Adamek said. “Two Grade 11s played a ton.
“They’re just stepping up at the right time.”
Ryan Gilbert, who led the Flyers in scoring with 16 points and was selected as Eden’s player of the game, said it took his team time to understand what the Gryphons were doing offensively and getting the switches right.
“Once we got that, we seemed to be able to lock down defensively pretty well until the start of that third quarter, when they dropped seven points pretty quickly,” the Grade 12B student said.
Charlie Edgar and Micah Nieuwetts, with 11 points each; also scored in double digits in scoring for the Flyers.