Eastwood rolls to WCSSAA title
KITCHENER — The Eastwood Rebels were always going to be difficult to beat.
Layee Jabateh’s return to the squad made a tall task even taller.
The fifth-year guard, who rejoined the Rebels on the final game of the Waterloo County (WCSSAA) regular-season schedule, played well on both sides of the ball Wednesday night and helped his squad repeat as senior basketball champions with a 63-45 win over the Galt Ghosts. MVP candidate Ladera Ujullu Obang led the Rebels with a memorable eight-dunk, 34-point performance at Cameron Heights Collegiate.
“It feels great to be back, man, to be with my guys again and to win a championship for the second straight year,” said Jabateh, who finished with nine points and, like everyone else in the gym, marvelled at Ladera’s performance. “The guy’s going to the NBA, crazy.”
A WCSSAA all-star last year, Jabateh attended Lincoln Prep in Hamilton for much of the current school year but returned to his former school just in time to be eligible for WCSSAA and beyond. He now hopes to play a significant role for the Rebels when they open play Friday at the six-team Central Western Ontario triple-A tournament in Kitchener.
The Rebels, along with the St. Benedict Saints and North Park Trojans of Brantford, are viewed as the teams to beat.
“I feel like if me and Ladera play well, and everyone chips in, we can win it,” said Jabateh.
The Rebels (15-0) led 32-22 at halftime and pulled away in the third quarter with a 14-0 run to lead 54-37 going into the final frame. J.J. Adigun and Dawit Simon had eight-point nights for Eastwood.
Galt (12-3), which received an outstanding 23-point performance from Mittih Rehman, moves on to the CWOSSA double-A tournament. Josh Middleton and Logan Straatman had eight-point outings.
Earlier, the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels captured the WCSSAA junior championship with a thrilling 53-51 victory over the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders. Both teams advance to the CWOSSA triple-A tournament.
Julian Fordyce had 20 points for the winners and Damion Pearce added 17. Tanner Eden had 20 points for SJAM and Bill Moran had 10.
Pearce came up huge for the Highlanders at the end, scoring the game-winning basket with 7.8 seconds remaining and getting his fingertips on a close-range shot that could have forced overtime. “We’re gritty, we grind, and we came through when we had to,” said Pearce after the game.
The CWOSSA triple-A Senior championship will be contested Friday and Saturday at St. Mary’s High School and includes the KCI Raiders, Brantford’s North Park Trojans, Guelph’s Centennial Spartans and the Owen Sound DSS Wolves. KCI earned the final spot Wednesday by defeating the Grand River Renegades 60-43 in a play-in game. Owen Davidson had 18 points for the Raiders and Aman Saleh had 18 for the Renegades.
The Resurrection Phoenix, Guelph’s John F. Ross Royals, Owen Sound and North Park round out the junior tournament that starts Friday at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School.
Galt and the St. David Celtics are at the CWOSSA double-A senior tournament in Simcoe, with the same two schools in the junior event.
Woodland is competing at the CWOSSA single-A senior tournament and Rockway is in the junior event.
Hockey series tied
The WCSSAA girls hockey playoff semifinals are going down to the wire.
The Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders and Elmira Lancers forced third and deciding games in their respective series by eking out Game 2 victories on Wednesday.
The Lancers stayed alive with a 4-2 win over the Bluevale Knights and the Crusaders escaped with a 3-2 shootout win over the KCI Raiders.
Game 3 in both series is scheduled for Monday.