Clippers make all the right moves

With an opportunity to host OFSAA, the Kennedy Clippers gladly accepted the challenge of moving up.

Last year’s WECSSAA senior boys basketball AA champions moved up to the AAA division this year and again left the floor as champions on Sunday with a 60-52 win over the top-seeded Herman Green Griffins at the SportsPlex.

“It feels good,” Clippers forward Everette Burks said. “That was the goal at the beginning of the year.

“They beat us the first game of the season, but we knew we were better and wanted to show that.”

Herman struggled with the defensive pressure put on by the Kennedy guards and had to deal with early foul trouble for Major Goodwin.

“He’s a good factor on our team and we work really good together,” said Herman centre Dario Milojevic, who scored 14 points.

“Without him, it was kind of hard to guard on the screens and when people were coming in. We were having trouble with that.”

Burks was the beneficiary of Goodwin sitting as the Clippers ran backdoor screens that consistently left him with an open lane to the basket and he finished with a game-high 24 points.

“It’s just a play my coach drew up today,” the 18-year-old Burks said. “We got it going early. It was working, so we stuck with it.”

Herman was even with the Clippers midway through the final quarter, but could never get a lead as the Green Griffins fell in the AAA final for a second straight year.

Kennedy, which also got 11 points each from Marquise Lara Caston and Manroop Mader in Sunday’s win, would have been satisfied to stay at the AA level, but when Hamilton pulled out from hosting the AAA championship a year ago, the Clippers jumped in to host this year’s event, but had to move up.

Now the Green Griffins will turn to cheering for the Clippers.

Kennedy will play Sarnia Northern for the SWOSSAA title on Thursday.

Since Kennedy has an automatic berth at OFSAA as the host team, a win over Sarnia Northern will set up a challenge game for the Green Griffins and offer a chance to get to OFSAA.

PURPLE RAIDERS 46 REBELS 40

In the AA final, the secondseeded Assumption Purple Raiders claimed the school’s first title since 2015 with a win over the topseeded Riverside Rebels.

Assumption’s Kassen Byas led all scorers with 26 points and hit a key three-point shot late as the Purple Raiders rallied from a three-point deficit to get the win.

Isiah Chesney and Dawit Othow had 11 points each for the Rebels.

ROYALS 68 FALCONS 54

In the A final, the Lajeunesse Royals built a double-digit lead at

the half and went on to claim the school’s third straight title with a win over the second-seeded Lamothe-Cadillac Falcons.

Andreas McBounds led the Royals with 28 points and Ibrahim Abou El Hassan and Elio Skaf had 10 points each.

Kadar Ibraheem finished with 15 points for the Falcons with Oassama Salaman scoring 13 and Ali Kabbini adding 10 points.