CLIPPERS CRUISE TO VICTORY
Kennedy shines in OFSAA opener
It took about three minutes for the Kennedy Clippers to find their game Monday.
Down by two points early in the game, six-foot-seven Magdi Tiea stepped into the lane to pick off a pass and went the other way to deliver a thunderous dunk to tie the game and send the student body on hand into a frenzy.
After a defensive stop, Everette Burks delivered a three-point shot that put the host team up for good. “That pretty much picked us up, gave us intensity and we built off that,” Clippers point guard Marquise Lara-Caston said.
The No. 3 Clippers went on to a comfortable 73-43 win over the No. 18 Sault Ste. Marie St. Mary’s Knights in the opening game for both teams at the OFSAA boys’ AAA basketball championship. “It’s good to get the first one under your belt,” the 17-year-old Tiea said. “Once you beat the first one, you have the confidence to win more games.”
The Clippers were stepping up Monday. Kennedy won the bronze medal at last year’s AA championship, but moved up a level this year to host the AAA tournament. “We played pretty much all the teams here, so we pretty much knew what we were facing,” Lara-Caston said. “We weren’t nervous at all.”
A smaller Knights squad was outmatched in size at every position against the Clippers, who attacked the basket at every opportunity. “I think we have beaten some of the top teams and now we have the confidence to beat the highest teams,” Tiea said.
A seven-point Clippers lead after the first quarter grew to 24 at the half, but Kennedy head coach Pat Osborne wasn’t thrilled with the way his team performed after that. “I want us to be more composed,” Osborne said. “We had that team down and instead of increasing the lead, we kind of just settled in and let them do things that they wanted and I don’t like that. “I want us to learn to be more aggressive. Not looking to score so much, but keep playing the way you’re supposed to play. “You have to continue to do the right things and the little things. I thought they outworked us in the second half because we thought we had it and kind of laid back. That’s not the way I want to play.” Still holding a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter, Osborne was able to get all 13 members of his squad on the floor for a taste of the OFSAA experience and 10 players hit the scoresheet.
“It was good to have the school behind us and it’s good to get everyone playing and get everyone minutes,” the 18-year-old Lara-Caston said.
Burks led the Clippers with 15 points, while Lara-Caston scored 14 points, Tiea added 12 points and Akot Aken chipped in with 10 points.
Next up for Kennedy is a 10:30 a.m. match Tuesday against No. 14 Orillia with the winner advancing to the quarter-finals at 5 p.m. against the winner of No. 6 Hamilton Cathedral and No. 12 Fergus Centre Wellington.
It’s good to get the first one under your belt. Once you beat the first one, you have the confidence.