St. Benedict wins D8 crown
CAMBRIDGE — After a one-year absence, the St. Benedict Saints have returned to the winner’s circle.
Aidan Whalen scored a gamehigh 23 points and the Saints won their third District 8 senior boys’ basketball championship in four years with a 66-40 win over the St. Mary’s Eagles. Ben Mascaranhas added 13 points for the Saints before packed house on Tuesday night at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School.
With their win, the Saints advance to the Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) triple-A championship that will be contested Friday and Saturday at St. Mary’s High School in Kitchener. The Eagles, who received 10point outings by Eric Martin and Paolo Malacad, are finished.
Fifth-year guard Justin Ching scored nine points and shed a few tears after the final buzzer.
“I’ve been with this program and Mr. (John) Malnerich (St. Benedict teacher/coach) for five years now and the coaching staff has been amazing. It’s been like a family and it’s kind of sad that it’s coming to an end,” said Ching, adding he likes his team’s chances at CWOSSA.
“I think we have a good chance but we respect all the teams in this area. It’s a strong region.”
The Saints cruised to a 24-10 second-quarter lead before the Saints came to life with an 8-0 run that was capped by a three-point effort by Malacad. Mascarenhas scored 12 points in the opening half, which ended with the Saints leading 28-21.
A Trent Johnson dunk gave St. Benedict a 38-27 lead in the third and a three-point basket by Ching at the end of third quarter extended the lead to 46-28.
In the junior final, Shiloh Worthy and Nate Chan had 13 points apiece for the Resurrection Phoenix in a 59-45 win over St. Benedict. William Buffong had 23 points for the Saints.
The basketball triple-header opened with St. Benedict defeating Resurrection, 49-46, in the midget final.
Earlier Tuesday, the Eastwood Rebels and Galt Ghosts recorded semifinal wins to punch their tickets to Wednesday night’s Waterloo County (WCSSAA) final at Cameron Heights (8 p.m.).
At Galt, Manuel Cabrera Curbelo and Aaron Faulkner led the way with 20 and 18 points respectively in a 74-58 win over the Grand River Renegades. Aman Saleh had 25 points for the Raiders, who can still advance to the CWOSSA triple-A championship by winning a play-in game Wednesday. Galt will play at the CWOSAA double-A tournament.
At Eastwood, Ladera Ujullu Obang had 27 points for the Rebels in a 65-43 win over the KCI Raiders. Muktar Mohamed added 16 for Eastwood, which earns a berth to the CWOSSA triple-A championship. Will Urosevic and Andrew Edgar had 16 and 14 points, respectively, for the Raiders.
Grand River will travel to KCI on Wednesday with the winner moving on to the CWOSSA triple-A championship.
The Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders and Cameron Heights Golden Gaels will meet in Wednesday’s WCSSAA junior final at Cameron Heights (6 p.m.).
Guelph’s Centennial Spartans, Brantford’s North Park Trojans and the Owen Sound Wolves had already secured spots at the CWOSSA triple-A event.
The CWOSSA junior triple-A tournament, which start Friday at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School and concludes Saturday at St. Mary’s, features Cameron Heights, Sir John A. Macdonald, Owen Sound, Guelph’s John F. Ross Royals and the winner of Tuesday night’s Brant County final between St. John’s College and North Park.
Hockey
St. David and Resurrection were winners Tuesday in the opening games of the District 8 girls and boys hockey finals.
Chloe Davidson scored twice and Lex Schneider added a single in a 3-1 win over St. Mary’s. Ella Murphy replied for the Eagles. Game 2 in the best-of-three final is set for Thursday (2:15 p.m.) at Activa Sportsplex.
Aidan Brady scored the game’s only goal and Bryden Arnold had the shutout for Resurrection in a 1-0 win over St. David. Game 2 in the best-of-three final goes Thursday (2:30 p.m.) at Albert McCormick.
In WCSSAA boys quarter-final playoff action, it was: Galt 3, Grand River 2; Elmira 8, Preston 0; WCI 1, KCI 0; and WaterlooOxford 4, Huron Heights 3. Scoring details weren’t available.
The semifinal round of the WCSSAA girls league resumes Wednesday with KCI against Waterloo-Oxford (2 p.m., Wilmot Optimist) and Elmira against Bluevale (3 p.m., Moses Springer). KCI and Bluevale have 1-0 leads in the best-of-three series.