Saints marching to OFSAA
CWOSSA senior champs hardened for provincials with tough victories
WATERLOO — The final buzzer sounded, a brief celebration ensued and their game faces returned.
The St. Benedict Saints, who won the Central Western Ontario triple-A basketball championship Saturday night at Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School — with a 45-24 victory over Brantford’s North Park Trojans — are clearly focused on what comes next.
“It’s a really big accomplishment, the first time our in school’s history (to win the CWOSSA senior title), but hopefully this is just a step along the way and there is more to come,” said Saints forward Jake Polski.
The quest for more starts next Monday in North Bay at the 16-team Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship. The Saints, who needed to stage a second-half rally to win their CWOSSA semifinal game against the Waterloo Collegiate Vikings, are expected to be the second or third-ranked team at OFSAA.
Zubair Seyed and Justin Malnerich led the way on offence against North Park, scoring 14 and 12 points respectively. Evan Rodenburg chipped in with 11 and was a dominant force on the glass, along with Devante Douse and Polski.
The Saints, who led the final 18-14 at halftime, flexed their defensive muscle in the third and outscored the Trojans 14-0 to put the game out of reach.
The Saints were tested in all four victories at CWOSSA, especially their 56-43 semifinal victory over the Vikings, which required a second-half rally to keep their OFSAA dream alive. St. Benedict trailed 29-19 at halftime, but outscored WCI by 23 points in the second half, for a 56-43 victory.
“We played OK, but we weren’t great in the first half of all four games. Like tonight, we held them to 14 points in the first half, which is pretty good, but only scored 18, which isn’t,” said Malnerich.
“This is probably the first tournament we’ve had four tough games, so that should help us at OFSAA.”
The Trojans reached the final with an improbable comeback against the Eastwood Rebels in their semifinal game. Trailing by nine points with a minute to play, North Park took advantage of Eastwood’s struggles at the free-throw line in a 51-48 overtime victory. The Rebels were an abysmal 3-for-16 from the freethrow line in the fourth quarter and overtime.
North Park head coach Todd Andrew viewed the loss to St. Benedict as a valuable learning experience for his young squad that featured four Grade 11 starters. St. Benedict, by contrast, started four fifth-year players.
Ethan Andrew led the Trojans with eight points and Jackson Kingshott added six.
“(The Saints) are well coached, they’re very confident in each other out there, they run good systems, and they don’t get fazed, even in certain situations where the game is tight,” said Trojans coach Todd Andrew.
“We’re a young team, this was a good learning opportunity for us and we hope to be back here next year.”
Saints head coach John Malnerich was proud of his team’s resilience at CWOSSA, particularly during the victory over WCI that kept their season alive.
“The kids were calm, we just said ‘this is what we need to do,’ we changed the defence up a little bit and made a few alterations, and they did it,” he said.
“It was business as usual, that’s the way we train.”
Earlier, the St. Mary’s Eagles scored a 58-51 victory over the Grand River Renegades to win the CWOSSA triple-A junior championship. Paolo Malacad led the Eagles with 14 points, Marcus Umana had 12, Ben Lassaline had 11 and Leo Pataca had 10. Ethan Izzard paced the Renegades with 18 points, Justen Wilmot added 12 and Anthony Perez-Carey had 11.
St. Mary’s advanced to the final with a 60-47 win over the Jacob Hespeler Hawks, and Grand River made it with a 49-48 victory over Guelph’s Centennial Spartans.
Celtics also reach OFSAA
Meanwhile, in Cambridge, the St. James Lions scored a 59-53 victory over the St. David Celtics in the CWOSSA double-A final. Both teams advance to the OFSAA double-A championship in Sault Ste. Marie. Alex Durigon led the Lions with 21 points and Brent Lasovich had 23 points for the Celtics.
St. David won the CWOSSA double-A junior title with a 63-51 victory over the Our Lady of Lourdes Crusaders of Guelph. Malique Lalor had 21 points for the Celtics and Kevin Martinez led the Crusaders with 15.