In the opening round of the 4A draw, held in Windsor: …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Toronto Oakwood Barons crushed the 18th-seeded Kitchener Collegiate Raiders 63-42 as Telord Lessekuta scored 14. Craig Bauslaugh led Kitchener with 11. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints pounded the 12th-seeded Pickering St. Mary Monarchs 61-45 as Jermaine Anderson scored 24. David Ferdinand led St. Mary’s with 12. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Brampton St. Augustine Falcons defeated the 16th-seeded London Lucas Vikings 66-58 as Grant Dacosta scored 66. Moark Novak led Lucas with 16. …………………………………………………… The 14th-seeded Windsor W.F. Herman Green Griffins upset the 8th-seeded Barrie North Collegiate Institute Vikings 68-63 as Cortez Borders scored 23. Daniel Eves led Barrie North with 23. Ben Leroux added 22. Windsor coach Gary Gibson, who’d brought up six players from the junior team prior to the provincials, saw his troops get beat up on the boards in the first half by 6-7 Dan Eves and 6-3 Ben Leroux as the Vikings strode to a 38-25 lead at the half. Then Gibson led the juniors out. “I’ve watched them since they were nine years old,” Gibson told the Windsor Star. “I know they can play.” Grade 9 post Terry Maudlin took on Leroux and held him to 8 points in the second half, while scoring 14 himself. The Griffins full-court pressure forced 13 second half turnovers. “Everybody knows about our junior team,” said Borders. “They’re explosive and they have to fear.” Maudlin gave the Griffins a 55-53 lead with four minutes remaining and then rookie R.J. Wells hit a trey to make it 60-57. Wells had three steals, a rebound and two critical steals down the stretch, as well as two free throws with 6.8 seconds to play, as Herman pulled out the win. ………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Chatham John McGregor Panthers dumped the 15th-seeded Brantford Assumption Lions 92-60 as Kevin Kloostra scored 29. Derek Ouellete led Assumption with 17. Drew Birka added 15, Nate Dorsey 8 and Jamie Batson 6. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Niagara Falls A.N. Myer Marauders defeated the 13th-seeded Brampton Chinguacousy Chiefs 63-56 (also reported as 64-57) as Nenad Medic scored 26 and Mike Kemp 21. Marauders coach Tom Grantis told the Niagara Falls Review that “we sort of wanted (Brampton) to get into foul trouble in the post, so we knew that he (Medic) was quite dominant in there … Mike (Kemp) scored most of his points on fastbreaks. When we got reobunds, we ended up releasing Mike and he … got a lot of his points that way. They were not able to break our pressure. WE applied some pressure that got us over the hump.” Sefton Barrett led Chinguacousy with 16. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Burlington Nelson Lords nipped the 11th-seeded Ottawa Hillcrest Hawks 37-34 as Graham Dow scored 11. Sean Peter led Hillcrest with 9. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Toronto St. Michael’s Blue Raiders dumped the 10th-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs 61-49 as Jon Clark scored 17. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Unionville Milliken Mills Knights defeated the 17th-seeded Lindsay Spartans 59-48 despite 27 points from Alex McLeod. Knights captain Arnell Scott was disappointed with his teammate’s performance. “I know what the score said but we have a lot of improvement to do and as far as I’m concerned, we lost. In these playoffs, you can’t come out with a sub-par performance and that’s exactly what happened. There are other players and teams who’ll come out with more firepower in the next round and if we don’t wake up and get mentally prepared, we’ll be going home early,” Scott told the Toronto Star. While Milliken trailed for only five seconds, and that came with barely five minutes gone, the Knights were guilty of sloppy passing, poor shot selection and lacked the hustle and intensity of a team that believes it is a medal contender. Knights coach Chris Skinner said “we have to minimize those turnovers or everything is on the line. The guys have to step up now or we’re going home.” Corey Muirhead led the Knights with 19, including 15 in the first half. “The first half was fine but I was very disappointed with the second half,” said Muirhead. “We weren’t stepping up; just lost focus and I got the feeling we thought the game was over and started looking ahead.” The Knights nearly squandered an 18-point lead in the second half. They led 21-13, 36-23 and 47-36 at the quarters but couldn’t contain McLeod, who hit six from beyond the arc, from the perimeter. Leighton Brown and James each added 10 points for Milliken Mills while Scott scored 8.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The 16th-seeded London Lucas Vikings defeated the 18th-seeded Kitchener Collegiate Raiders 80-63 as Tyler Done scored 24 and Tom Leonard 16. Craig Bauslaugh led Kitchener with 24. Matt McIntyre added 8. Raiders coach Al Haehn told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we were going with basically five or six guys and that’s just enough dept when you get to this tournament with the calibre of teams that are here.” The Raiders also included Borko Popic, Andrew Stubbs. …………………………………………………… The 15th-seeded Brantford Assumption Lions defeated the 17th-seeded Lindsay Spartans 60-57 as Drew Birka scored 14, Nate Dorsey 15 and Derek Ouellette 11. Lions coach Brian Jonker told the Brantford Expositor that his troops played “much better. This morning their heads weren’t in it. We had more energy tonight. We lose, we go home. They wanted to win.” Jonker said Matt Bruyn did a “great job containing Alex McLeod.” Cory Barker led Lindsey with 21. Alex McLeod added 11. The Spartans also included Matt McLeod, Chris Armstrong, John Ireland, Ryan Hughes, Jesse Favel, Corey Norman and Nick Lauwers.
In the third round: …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Toronto Oakwood Barons defeated 8th-seeded Barrie North CI Vikings 56-41 as Phil Hahn scored 16. Daniel Eves led the Vikings with 13. The Vikings also included Brandon Chang. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Chatham John McGregor Panthers defeated the 13th-seeded Brampton Chinguacousy Chiefs 79-65 as Kevin Kloostra scored 34. Sefton Barrett led Chinguacousy with 23. The Chiefs also included Patrick Tatham, Mohamed Karrulla. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Unionville Milliken Mills Knights defeated the 11th-seeded Ottawa Hillcrest Hawks 57-39 as Arnel Scott scored 19. Jaime Corinaldi led Hillcrest with 16. The Hawks (coached by Gary Monsour, assisted by Selwyn De Souza) also included Jama Mahamoud, Beau Doherty, Sean Peter, Soran Ilkhanizadeh, Tyler McLaren, Travis Dougan, Sanjaya Mendis, Corey McLaren, Arun Lamba, Tunde Temidire, Jesse Freesto and Shahab Hedyati. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Brampton St. Augustine Falcons defeated the 12th-seeded Pickering St. Mary Monarchs 55-52 as Paul Blake scored 16. David Ferdinand led St. Mary with 14. The Monarchs also included Sydney Bookal, Brendan Delaney. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Niagara Falls A.N. Myer Marauders dumped the 9th-seeded Toronto St. Michael’s Blue Raiders as Brad Rootes (before injuring an ankle) and Trevor Rhoden each scored 12. Mike Kemp added 10, Nenad Medic 9 and Dusty Bianchin 9. Nathan Skinner led St. Michael’s with 18. The Blue Raiders (coached by Jeff Zownir, assisted by V Reece and E John) included Jon Clark, Drey Rivela, Jonas Didzbali, Paul Sergautis, Kevin Li, Prinz Collantes, Mike Boynton, Dave Carroll, Pat Johnson, Adam Garetson, James Ho, Andrew Polischuk, Andy Punkris, Mike Powell, Nolan Zucchet, Nathan Skinner and Christian Arambulo. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs defeated the 14th-seeded Windsor W.F. Herman Green Griffins 70-68 in overtime as Amde Evans scored 35. Cortez Borders led Herman with 23. Borders bounced a trey off the front rim at the buzzer as the Griffins fell. He’d earlier hit a trey to force overtime by knotting the score at 60 with 15 seconds to play. Herman endured three coaching changes and discipline problems all season but made the provincials. Vaughan coach Mike Foster told the Windsor Star that it “an awesome game. But it’s no fun knocking the home team out because nobody wants you to do it.” Borders had forced overtime with a trey to knot the score at 60 with 15 seconds remaining on the clock. Herman coach Gary Gibson, who’d started the season as an assistant, then became co-coach with Jerry Brumpton, and finally head coach near the end of the season, set up the Borders attempt to win it during a timeout with two seconds to play. “I wanted to get the ball to Cort. I think he’s the best player in the city and he deserved a chance to win it.” The Voyageurs hit 11 treys on the night, including three in the extra session. “We weren’t guarding the three,” Borders said. Devin Price added 21 points and 14 boards for Herman. Todd St. Aubin scored 17 and nabbed 14 boards. “Losing is never fun,” St. Aubin said. “But it’s better to go out strong than to get blown out.” The Green Griffins (coached by Gibson, assisted by Ken Karachi) also included Joe Garritano, Jamie Nelson, Ljubisa Vrcelj, Jason Greening, Dave Korenic, R.J. Wells, Terry Maudlin. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints defeated the 16th-seeded London Lucas Vikings 71-52 as Jermaine Anderson scored 14. Tyler Done led Lucas with 20. The Vikings also included Tom Leonard. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Burlington Nelson Lords defeated the 15th-seeded Brantford Assumption Lions 64-53 as Aaron Sidenberg scored 22. Nathan Dorsey and Drew Birka each notched 17 for Assumption. Marco Fernandes added 13 and Derek Ouellette 4. The Lions led 11-8 ater one quarter and 23-20 at the half. The Lords led 44-42 after three quarters and opened the final frame with a 16-0 run. Lions coach Brian Jonker told the Brantford Expositor that “I mean, we competed. The guys never stopped. They never quit.” The Lions (coached by Jonker) also included Eric Gauthier, Matt Bruyn, Greg Harrison, Mike Hayman, Brandon Crowe, Jamie Batson, Ryan Buchanan and Dave Bui.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints dumped the 10th-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs 75-42 as Jermaine Anderson scored 21. Robin Cooper led the Voyageurs with 16. The Voyageurs (coached by A.J. Sharma, assisted by Mike Foster and Lorne Manett) also included Amde Evans, Josh Lipsey, James Yoon.
The 2nd-seeded Burlington Nelson Lords defeated the 7th-seeded Niagara Falls A.N. Myer Marauders 58-48 as Jon Behie scored 20. Nenad Medic paced the Marauders with 16. Mike Kemp added 14 and Dusty Bianchin 11. The Marauders (coached by Tom Grantis, assisted by Bill Rootes) also included Len Sauer, Nathan Davies, Trevor Rhoden, Greg Gnys, Brad Levelle and Milos Karadzic. Grantis told the Niagara Falls Review that Rootes’ ankle injury “didn’t hurt his ball control but he lost about a half-step on the defensive end. He could keep up with his guy. It just wasn’t enough to do some of the things he’d been doing well, in terms of cutting them off and stealing the ball. … We had quite a dramatic letdown (in the second half). We didn’t play with the kind of enthusiasm and energy that we can.” The Marauders led 13-8, 31-19 and 38-35 at the quarters.
The 3rd-seeded Toronto Oakwood Barons defeated the 6th-seeded Brampton St Augustine Falcons 57-39. Oakwood notched two decisive runs to break open the sloppy affair. St. Augustine coach Derek Ramalho said his troops had all manner of difficulty putting the ball in the hole, including missed layups, dreadful perimeter shooting and a 3-13 effort from the line. Despite that, they were within five with 4:33 to play. Oakwood pulled out the win with defensive pressure and timely rebounding. Romalho told the Toronto Star that “we certainly had our chances to cut (their lead) down but just didn’t execute, and Sherone (Edwards) missed four straight foul shots when we were close to catching them. Oakwood also has a lot of scorers and when they hit their three-point baskets, you could feel the impact of those shots.” After a shaky start, Oakwood rebounded with a 16-4 first quarter to lead 18-13. The Barons increased their lead to 31-22 at halftime but St. Augustine, cashing in on some giveaways, cut the lead to six with eight minutes left in the game. But Barons point guard Phil Hahn, who scored 26 on 4 treys and 8-10 from the line down the stretch, took command down the stretch. “Sometimes we start out hot. This one, we were slow and sloppy and they gave us a chance by missing all those shots,” said Hahn. “It was an ugly game and I think fatigue, with so many games in a short span, had lots to do with it.” Jamal Fletcher and Nemanja Maric each added 10 for Oakwood. Bert Riviere led the Falcons with 14. The Falcons (coached by Ramalho) also included Grant DaCosta, Anthony Alexis.
In the last quarterfinal, the 4th-seeded Chatham John McGregor Panthers defeated the 5th-seeded Unionville Milliken Mills Knights 68-65 in overtime as Kevin Kloostra scored 27. Shane James led the Knights with 19. The Knights also included Corey Muirhead, Leighton Brown, Arnel Scott.
In the semis, the top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints defeated the 4th-seeded Chatham John McGregor Panthers 85-79 as Jermaine Anderson scored 29. Kevin Kloostra led John McGregor with 39.
In the other semi, the 3rd-seeded Toronto Oakwood Barons defeated the 2nd-seeded Burlington Nelson Lords 57-39 as Telor Lessekuta scored 16. Jon Behie led the Lords with 7.
In the bronze medal match, the 2nd-seeded Burlington Nelson Lords defeated the 4th-seeded Chatham John McGregor Panthers 64-62. Kevin Kloostra paced the Panthers with 39. The Panthers (coached by Dan Lewis, assisted by David Kent) also included Alan Cattrysse, Andy Fantuz, Kyle Robbins, P.J. Hamilton, Ryan Morrison, Mark Oulds, Matt Handsor, Scott Currie, Rob Shaw, Mike Bean and Jeremy Derksen.
In the final, the top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints defeated the 3rd-seeded Toronto Oakwood Barons 48-44 in overtime. Coach Jonathan Smith’s troops won their 44th game in 49 starts in a battle of endurance between two teams playing their fifth game in 76 hours. Ola Matti, bound for Houston’s Lamar University, scored the winning points and finished with a team-high 13 points. “This was beautiful, very special and something you cherish for life,” Matti, who forced overtime with a foul shot just before regulation time expired, told the Toronto Star. “We knew this would be a battle and while the crowd may have expected more of a high-scoring, wide-open game, this one was physically tough against an Oakwood squad who was anything but a pushover.” Eastern Commerce outscored the Barons 8-4 in a decisive four-minute OT period. Jermaine Anderson added 11 for Eastern while Kerwin Liverpool and David Thompson each scored 8. Phil Hahn and Jamal Fletcher led Oakwood scorers with 11 while Telor Lessekuta finished with 10. Both teams forced their shots in the physical battle, said Oakwood coach Ernie MacMillan. “Good defensive teams, it was a tough game that could have gone either way. We missed some key shots at the end but, the way I see it, both teams are winners to get this far.” Eastern Commerce avenged a loss to Oakwood in the Toronto city finals. “Us and Oakwood, this is tradition and history,” Matti, who scored 4 of his 13 in overtime, told the Windsor Star. “Both teams knew it would be a battle for at least four quarters and it went five.” The score was knotted at 40 after regulation when Oakwood misses two attempts to win in the final 15 seconds. David Thompson hit a trey and Matti added two quick buckets as Commerce moved ahead 47-40. The Barons kept hitting iron as they tried to rally with three-point bombs. “We were forced to play catchup,” said Oakwood coach Ernie MacMillan. “We really should have won it when we had a chance in regulation.” Oakwood trailed 14-2 early but rallied when Commerce guard Kingsley Costain was sidelined with an injured right foot. The Saints finished (44-5) on the campaign. The Saints broke a Toronto District Secondary Schools Athletic Association rule by allowing two junior players to participate in OFSAA after they’d playing in the junior championships. But TDSAA president Lorne Smith ruled that there was no breach as the rule had only been introduced with the amalgamation of the Toronto board two years earlier. The city’s public high school coaches voted to adjust the league’s constitution to prevent athletes from playing junior and senior games in the same year. “What happened at Eastern has to be a communication error, it wasn’t done deliberately,” Smith told the Toronto Star. “Technically, Eastern contravened our constitution, but OFSAA allows juniors to play.” Eastern Commerce coach Jonathan Smith said “we’ve always been able to use opportunities like OFSAA to give promising students a reward. It’s ridiculous to think that some people think we should be stripped of our achievements on the court.”
The bronze medalist Burlington Nelson Lords: Jim Robinson; Jon Behie; Graham Dow; Aaron Sidenberg; Zach Storm; Aamir Zafir; Devon Cornelius; Francis McMullan; Scott MacLennan; Kyle Rothwell; Ben Fielding; James McBain; Shane Porter; Tag Russell; Jeff Farrelly;
The silver medalist Toronto Oakwood Barons: Phil Hahn; Jamal Fletcher; Telord Lessekuta; Nemanja Maric; Mike DeGiorgio; Jonathan Wyse; Michael Moscatelli; Cali Braithwaite; Everson Black; Curtis Farley; Andrew Coa; Robbie Cheung; coach Ernie MacMillan
The gold medalist Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints: Ola Matti; Kingsley Costain; Jermaine Anderson; Kerwin Liverpool; David Thompson; Tristan Blackwood; Cameron Johnson; Teyva Reid; Emu Kumane; Jean Paul Kamand; Tyrone Mattison, Dini Farah; Kingsley Costain; Calvin Wigley; Dini Farah; coach Jonathan Smith; assistant Trevor Bullen