1-2 knockout punch
Two players combine to score 53 points to send Vanier to semifinals at Tribune Tournament
Jacob Labonte and Phil Angervil provided a one-two punch that couldn’t be beat in consolation quarter-final action at the Tribune Boys Basketball Tournament Thursday in Welland.
With Labonte starring in the role of Mr. Outside, scoring 15 of his game-high 31 points from beyond the three-point arc, and Angervil cast as Mr. Inside, a force under the basket with 16 of his 22 points coming from the floor, the Jean Vanier Lynx cruised to a 7039 victory over the Port Colborne Blue Bears.
The Lynx, playing in front of a buyout crowd on their home court, advance to today’s semifinal round at Notre Dame, while the Blue Bears go home after going 0-2 at Ontario’s oldest high school tournament.
Labonte, a Grade 11, competing in his third Tribune Tournament, said rebounding from an openinground loss at his hometown tournament is “pretty tough.”
“You’re always going on that low of the loss,” said Labonte, whose team was relegated to the consolation side of the bracket with a 64-47 loss to the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs in the qualifying round.
“All you got to do is just bounce back and hope for that W, get to Friday, get to the championship.”
A gym filled to capacity with friends, family, schoolmates and faculty was an invaluable sixth man for Vanier, which went on a 14-0 run to start the game and took a 3420 lead into the second half.
“It’s like a good vibe, good energy, all the support is there,” Labonte said of playing at home.
“The extra on your back gives you extra momentum.”
The elimination game was the third between the single A schools. Vanier won the opener 46-31 with Port High winning the rematch 5942 against a Lynx that was only able to dress six players.
Eric Labonte, Vanier’s head coach and Jacob’s father, said playing so many games against the same team can be a double-edged sword.
“You kind of get a sense of how they play, so you then prepare yourself for that style of play, that style of offence, that style of defence,” the coach said.
“It’s not as much that it’s difficult but sometimes you fall into that ‘presume mode,’ and they could surprise you.”
Vanier tipped off the four-day, 16-team showcase missing starters Yannik Hurtubise and his younger brother Maxwell, both out of the lineup with injuries.
“I think we probably could have had a run on the championship side with everybody healthy,” Eric Labonte said. “On paper, this is one of the stronger teams I have had in a couple of years.
“Disappointed? No, I guess we can go far on this side of the bracket. I would be very happy and satisfied with that, too.”
Vanier will play the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons in the 3:30 p.m. semifinal and the Eden Flyers will face the Saint Michael Mustangs in the 5 p.m. game.
All four semifinal-round games will be played at Notre Dame, also the venue for Saturday’s championship doubleheader.
Greater Fort Erie defeated the Lakeshore Catholic Gators 54-45 and the Mustangs punched their ticket to the final four on the consolation side of the bracket with a 50-26 victory over the Holy Cross Raiders.
Port High became the earliest casualty at this year’s after following a 71-26 setback to the A.N. Myer Marauders on Day 1 with the setback against Vanier.
“It’s very disappointing,” the Grade 12 student. “I wish we could make our shots and limit turnovers, but that didn’t happen today.”
“We always come into a game with high confidence.”
The Blue Bears were already down by 14 when they put their first points on the scoreboard. However, that start didn’t knock the wind out of Port High’s sails, Kapellas said.
“It doesn’t really knock us down at all,” he said. “We keep on going possession by possession, we just keep going.”
Kapellas suggested if the Bears can take anything from the tournament to use as motivation going forward, it’s the importance of keeping their confidence high as a team.
“We need to keep pushing, no matter what the score is.”
Cold shooting, poor shot selection and the Lynx using height to their advantage on defence contributed to the Bears shooting a combined 14-for-51 from the floor and beyond the arc. Port High just made four of 20 attempts from the free-throw line.
Bears head coach Barclay Walker wasn’t surprised when he heard those numbers.
“That’s been our season,” he said. “You’ll get some games when we’ve been phenomenal shooters, and there are other games when it’s our weakness.
“This year we haven’t had one person stay hot all the way through a game.
“We’re either hot or we’re cold, and today was c-o-l-d.”
Aidan Hawkins and Riley Lannan paced Port High in scoring with 10 and eight points, respectively.