Knights get hot en route to title

Defeat Green Griffins after sloppy start; ‘We just wore them out,’ says Ahmad

An early deficit did not stop the Holy Names Knights from continuing to fire away from long range on Sunday.

Eventually, the shots started to fall and the Knights went on to a 62-44 win over the Herman Green Griffins to capture the WECSSAA senior boys’ AAA basketball title at the St. Denis Centre.

“It’s on and off,” the Knights’ Khodr Ahmad said of the threepoint shooting. “You just have to believe in the shot.”

That might have been hard to do after the Green Griffins used an 11-0 run to go up 13-5 early in the second quarter.

Then, Khodr found his rhythm as the 19-year-old hit three triples in the quarter and the Knights hit three-point shots on four-straight possessions to get back in the game.

“We broke down,” Herman’s Quintin Seguin said. “We didn’t do what our coach said and it’s on us.

“We knew what we had to do, that’s why we were winning. When we started getting lazy and not doing what we’re supposed to do, stuff like that tends to happen.

“We weren’t driving to the hole trying to get fouls, kicking it out and we weren’t closing out well. He gave us all the tools, but we just didn’t want to use them.”

The Knights hit 10 triples in the game and eventually stretched their lead to 12 points in the third quarter.

“We weren’t moving the ball,” Ahmad said of the Knights early struggles. “We were stagnant.

“We don’t really want to shoot the threes, but when it’s thereand they’re running zone, we kind of had to.”

Ahmad hit five triples and finished with a game-high 21 points.

“We did what we had to do,” Ahmad said. “It was tough, but the game’s four quarters and we pushed and fought.”

When the Green Griffins tried to push back in the fourth quarter, the Knights turned up the defensive pressure.

“They’re a good team and we had trouble with them, but I think we just wore them out,” Ahmad said. “We’re a small team and not a big team, so we like to run and wear them out. We fought hard and got the W, so I feel good.”

Isiah Byrd added 10 points to the Holy Names attack before fouling out and Dillan Anderson provided a boost inside with 10 points for the Knights, who will now play Sarnia Northern on Wednesday in the SWOSSAA final.

Maheir Mohammade led the Green Griffins with 12 points while Seguin finished with 10 points.

Prior to the senior final, the Green Griffins won the junior boys’ AAA basketball title with a 58-29 win over the Massey Mustangs.