No. 7 Royals start off with a win in Cornwall
El Hassan paces Lajeunesse with 23 points in victory over Toronto squad
The Lajeunesse Royals opened with a win Monday at the OFSAA boys’ A basketball championship in Cornwall.
Ibrahim Abou El Hassan scored 23 points as the No. 7 Royals beat No. 13 Toronto Scarlett Heights 62-50.
Lajeunesse built an eight-point lead at the half and was never threatened as Andreas McBounds and Elio Skaf chipped in with 12 points each for the Royals. Next up for Lajeunesse is a 9 a.m. match on Tuesday against No. 10 Kitchener Rockway Mennonite.
RAIDERS DROP OPENER
It was a tough start for the Assumption Purple Raiders at the OFSAA boys’ AA basketball championship in Pembroke.
The No. 12 Purple Raiders built a four-point lead after the opening quarter, but were outscored by 11 points in the second quarter and fell 56-48 to No. 10 Belleville St. Theresa.
Kassen Byas led Assumption with 24 points, but the Purple Raiders could not mount a comeback in the second half. Ben Horvath chipped in with 11 points. With the loss, the Purple Raiders will now face No. 5 London Mother Teresa on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
HEARTBREAK FOR SAINTS
The St. Anne Saints lost a pair of three-set matches Monday at the OFSAA girls’ AAA volleyball championship in London. The No. 17 Saints fell 2-1 to No. 4d Barrie Eastview by scores of 2624, 16-25 and 15-13.
That was followed by another 2-1 loss for the Saints against No. 10 Mississauga St. Marcellinus by scored of 23-25, 25-16 and 15-13. St. Anne will close out pool play on Tuesday against No. 7 Markham Father McGivney, which lost both of its matches on Monday, and No. 13 Uxbridge, which won both of its matches.
REBELS NEED A WIN
The No. 4 Riverside Rebels have some work to do on Tuesday if the club is to secure a medal for a thirdstraight year.
Riverside, which has won backto-back OFSAA silver medals, split a pair of pool games on Monday at the OFSAA girls’ AA volleyball championships in Mississauga. Riverside opened play with a two-set win over No. 17 Lindsay by scores of 25-12 and 25-17. However, the club lost 2-1 to No. 13 Newmarket Sacred Heart by scores of 24-26, 25-20 and 15-8. Riverside rebounded to beat No. 7 Barrie St. Joseph by scores of 2510 and 25-12.
Riverside will look to close out pool play with a win on Tuesday at 10 a.m. against No. 10 Waterloo St. David.
ROYALS IN TOUGH
It was a tough start on Monday for a young Lajeunesse Royals team, which is hosting the OFSAA girls’ A volleyball championship. Lajeunesse dropped a pair of games against two of the top seeds in the tournament.
The 15th-seeded Royals fell 2-0 to No. 1 Richmond Hill Holy Trinity by scores of 25-13 and 25-7. The club also lost its match with No. 5 University of Toronto Schools by scores of 25-20 and 25-20. Lajeunesse will close out pool play on Tuesday with an 8:30 a.m. match against No. 18 Brampton Christian Academy and an 11:30 a.m. match against No. 12 Timmins.
FOUR LANCERS HONOURED
University of Windsor Lancers outside hitter Paige Phills, a Riverside high school product, was named OUA women’s volleyball West Division rookie of the year on Monday.
Phills was also named a secondteam all-star and placed on the allrookie team. Windsor teammates Carleigh Bailey, who plays libero, and Lexi Pollard, who is also an outside hitter, were named to the second all-star team, while setter Brooke Davis was named to the allrookie team.