Champions were crowned on Sunday
The chance for a perfect season is intact for the Kennedy Clippers.
Kennedy, which played in the WECSSAA Tier I Division against several AAA opponents this season, clinched the senior boys’ AA championship on Sunday with a 64-50 win over the Catholic Central Comets at the St. Denis Centre.
“We want to go undefeated the whole season,” Kennedy’s Glenn Willis Paris said. “Last year, we lost in the quarter-finals at OFSAA. Ever since then, we’ve been determined to go to OFSAA and take the gold.”
The Comets knew it would be an uphill battle against the Clippers, who boast the 6-foot-6 Willis Paris and 6-foot-8 Patrick Moses.
“They’re solid on the boards,” Comets 5-foot-9 guard Patrick Douangchantha said. “We can’t grow six inches, so they had us beat down low.
“Most of their points came from the post and there was nothing we could do about it, but try and fight our hardest. We did, but didn’t come out on top.”
Catholic Central could not get a shot to fall in the first six minutes of the game as the Clippers opened with a 12-0 run.
“It was a tough game,” said Douangchantha, who finished with 18 points. “I wish we would have come through. We buried ourselves in the first quarter. We tried to come back, we fought, (but) it just wasn’t enough.”
Kennedy maintained that double-digit lead for much of the game, but the Comets rallied to close to within six points with just over two minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
“We practise game situations in practice,” said Paris, who finished with 17 points. “We just have to keep calm and don’t let the crowd get to you and you see what happens.”
Paris drove to the basket and got the lead back to eight points. He then pulled down defensive rebounds on back-to-back Catholic Central possessions and suddenly the Clippers were back up double digits.
Ali Mansour also had 17 points for the Clippers while D.J. Sminato chipped in with 13 points in the win. Roberto Asy finished with 10 points for the Comets. “We should have had way more rebounds than we did,” Paris said. “I shot bad, but we still came out with the win.”
Prior to the senior game, the Sandwich Sabres captured the junior boys’ AA basketball final with a 38-28 win over the L’Essor Aigles.
I wish we would have come through. We buried ourselves in the first quarter. We tried to come back, we fought, (but) it just wasn’t enough