Eagles, Celtics advance in D8 basketball playoffs

The St. Mary’s Eagles and St. David Celtics have punched their tickets to the semifinal playoff round of the District 8 senior boys’ basketball league.

Michael Carali scored 22 points Thursday for fourth-place St. Mary’s in a 74-49 win over the Monsignor Doyle Mustangs. Jody Brown Jr. added 10 points for the Eagles, who will take on the firstplace St. Benedict Saints on Monday. Jiggy Villaver had a game-high 23 points for the Mustangs and Jordan Deveney-Reid added 15.

The third-place St. David Celtics also advanced to the semifinal round with a 77-58 win over the Rockway Flames. Mason Cumming led the way with 38 points as the Celtics advanced to a semifinal meeting with the secondplace Resurrection Phoenix.

Meanwhile, the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels moved into a four-way tie for top spot at 10-2, in the WCSSAA senior league, with a 62-39 win over the Glenview Park Panthers. Martin Gjoriev had 18 points and Lala Shehi added 16 for Cameron Heights.

The Waterloo Vikings, who had a chance to finish first alone, fell, 53-52, to the Eastwood Rebels. Hanani Ujullu had 17 for Eastwood and Tyreak Farquharson added 15.

Antoney Bell had 18 and Bryce Scarrow added 11 as WCI slipped to second in the standings.

The Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders ended the schedule with a 77-36 win over the Elmira Lancers, and the Huron Heights Huskies finished with 72-46 win over the Bluevale Knights.

The playoff qualifying round goes Monday, with the fifththrough 12th-place teams competing. Quarter-finals are Wednesday and semifinals are Friday.