WCSSAA hoops championship all-Waterloo affair
WATERLOO — They needed overtime to make it happen, but the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders are one win away from their third consecutive basketball championship.
Maksim Koprivica and Chris Bullock contributed 13 points each, and Filip Popovic added 12, to lead the Highlanders to a thrilling 53-52 win over the Eastwood Rebels in Waterloo County senior boys high school semifinal playoff action Friday afternoon.
Brian Zapp scored all five SJAM points in the extra session, including a pair of clutch free throws, in front of a boisterous pro-Eastwood crowd at Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School.
“It was a tough game but we came through, did what we needed to do and we’re moving on. Regardless of who we play in the final, it should be a good game. We just have to come out with everything we have and play our best,” said Koprivica.
“It feels like everybody has been counting us out this year. We were ranked 10th in CWOSSA (by cwossabasketball.com) at the start of the season, and we’ve beaten most of the teams ahead of us, and we’re looking forward to playing the others.”
SJAM will take on the Waterloo Collegiate Vikings in Wednesday night’s final at Cameron Heights, after the Vikings coasted to a 66-36 win over the Huron Heights Huskies in a later game at WCI.
The Vikings held a 31-24 lead at the half, and controlled a second half in which Antoney Bell scored 16 of his game-high 25 points.
Mark Sapiter added 15 for WCI, Bryce Scarrow had 11, and Adam Piazza had 10. Ben Jenkins had 12 points for Huron Heights and Kuel Thomas had 11.
SJAM’s victory overshadowed an outstanding performance by Eastwood’s Kanayo Nnadi. He scored all 13 of his team’s fourth-quarter points to force overtime. SJAM led 40-35 going into the final frame. But they struggled to defend Nnadi down the stretch. Nnadi, who missed much of the season with an ankle injury, also scored all four of Eastwood’s overtime points.
“We had a tough time with him, he’s a good player,” said Koprivica. “He can shoot the three, he can attack and he can defend.”
The Rebels felt they were wronged when they weren’t awarded a timeout with about six seconds remaining in overtime.
The Highlanders had just missed a shot that would have put them up by three and an Eastwood player came down with the rebound. The Eastwood bench and several players called for a timeout in the noisy gymnasium, but play continued and the game ended when Layee Jabaten’s half-court prayer was off the mark.
The Rebels’ slow start — they trailed 18-12 after the first quarter and 33-22 at halftime — was what really did them in.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get the timeout …, but we have to get off to a better start. … If we played the way we did in the fourth quarter the entire game, we would have put them away early,” said Nnadi.
Despite their losses, Eastwood and Huron Heights still have a chance at a spot in next week’s CWOSSA championship. Those two teams will meet Tuesday and the winner will face a team from the Owen Sound area in a CWOSSA qualifying game.
SJAM and WCI have both secured their spots at CWOSSA, along with the District 8 champion St. Benedict Saints.