In the opening round, held in Paris: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Vaughan Secondary Voyageurs edged the 11th-seeded Peterborough Raiders 61-54. The Voyageurs trailed 16-15 after one quarter and 32-28 at the half. They led 46-41 after three quarters. Joshua Collins led the Voyageurs with 20. Colin Adams led the Raiders with 18. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Mississauga Ascension of Our Lord Eagles clubbed the 16th-seeded Whitby Donald A. Wilson Gators 78-40 after leading 19-16, 35-22 and 58-30 at the quarters. Indeber Gill paced Ascension with 25. Dorel Sutherland added 14. T. Stern paced Donald A. Wilson with 17. Craig Barclay added 8. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded London Oakridge Oaks nipped the 9th-seeded Brantford St. John’s Green Eagles 44-42 despite trailing 13-8, 25-24 and 36-35 at the quarters. Mike Wright paced Oakridge with 12. Craig Hansford and Mike Shalaby added 9. John-Alex DaBreo paced St. John’s with 22. Joe Dalia added 8. Craig Hansford hit a three-pointer with five seconds left to pull out the win. The Oaks trailed by five with a minute left, but two stops and two scores got them within winning distance with 18 seconds left to set up Hansford, much to the relief of head coach John Curcio. “The No. 9 seed is still a decent team,” Curcio said. “We had a bit of a scouting report on them and we certainly didn’t take them lightly. Nerves were definitely a part of it. The last few years we’ve been coming in as the 11 or 12 seed and no one expected much from us.” The Oaks needed Craig Hansford’s three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining to earn the win. The Green Eagles built a 13-8 lead in the first quarter against Oakridge but the Oaks went on a 12-0 run to start the second quarter. However, just when it appeared that Oakridge was about to run away with the game, the Green Eagles battled back and took a 25-24 lead at the half. The Eagles kept rebounding standout Isaiah Joseph on the bench throughout the third quarter because he was in foul trouble. St. John’s, despite playing without Joseph, held a 37-35 lead at the end of the third quarter. Oakridge took a 39-37 lead in the fourth quarter but Joseph scored on a drive to the bucket and point guard Joe Dalia hit a trey for a 42-39 lead. Mike Shalaby’s soft banker from 10 feet got the Oaks to within one point, 42-41. The Eagles then missed a one-and-one free throw situation with 30 seconds remaining to set the stage for Hansford’s heroics. St. John’s called a timeout with 5.5 seconds remaining to set up a play. “We wanted to go for the win,” said Eagles’ head coach Nick Esposito, adding that he designed a three-point play for the final seconds. We didn’t want to go to overtime. I just felt that we had a chance to win it there so let’s get it over with. The real tournament starts (today). John-Alex DaBreo scored 22 points to spark the Eagles, while Dalia got eight points. He (DaBreo) shot the ball very well, Esposito said. Hopefully, that gets his confidence back. The last few weeks he’s struggled a bit.” …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Etobicoke Martingrove Bears stomped 14th-seeded Waterloo St. David Celtics 85-54 after leading 20-2, 41-27 and 63-37 at the quarters. Matthew Wright led Martingrove with 20. Bryson Johnson led St. David’s with 27. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Windsor Catholic Central Comets clipped 12th-seed Sault Ste. Marie St. Basil Saints 52-31 after leading 11-5, 25-9 and 43-27 at the quarters. Robert Pierce led Catholic Central with 16. Matt Nuna added 10. Chris Hunt led St. Basil with 10. Tom Campana added 9. Andrew King, St. Basil’s only graduating starter, said the team’s youthfulness showed when they fell behind. “Yeah, it was a lack of experience,” King said. “This is the first OFSAA for most of the guys.” Tom Campana said “we were a little bit nervous. We weren’t making our shots in the first half. We didn’t really get comfortable until the second half.” Saints coach Lou Mazzuca said “they came out strong. They’re a very good team. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Toronto Central Commerce Riders edged the 15th-seeded Huntsville Hoyas 53-50 despite trailing 15-12 after one quarter and 27-25 at the half. The score was knotted at 38 after three quarters. Darnell Walters paced Central Commerce with 19. Gamachu Ibrahim added 10. Dylan Teakle led the Hoyas with 16. Jacob Austin added 13. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Scarborough Jean Vanier Mavericks stunned the 4th-seeded Ottawa St. Patrick Fighting Irish 65-55 after leading 20-18, 33-30 and 46-39 at the quarters. Chervon Hopkinson paced the Mavericks with 19. “We didn’t show up to play,” Fighting Irish coach Mike Rowley told the Ottawa Citizen. “We got outrebounded 35-7. We made one guard and two average posts look real, real good. We didn’t execute our game plan and almost slept through the whole game.” Afeworki Gebrekerestos paced St. Patrick with 17. Farhad Chezani added 9 and Jamal Babineau 8. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats defeated the 13th-seeded Kingston Holy Cross Crusaders 61-52. Holy Cross led 21-12 after one quarter and 28-27 at the half. Simcoe led 42-38 after three quarters. Tim Ashcraft paced the Redcoats with 22. Travis Berry added 20. Gregory Faulkner led Holy Cross with 17. Justin Tulloch added 11. The Crusaders had the Redcoats off balance in the first quarter, taking a nine-point lead. The Redcoats, however, returned the favour in the fourth quarter. “It was a tough loss for us,” said Holy Cross coach Robin Dzierniejko. “It wasn’t really the best fourth quarter for us. We had quite a few turnovers.” The Crusaders’ loose play with the ball – Holy Cross committed 24 turnovers – was the difference in the game, Dzierniejko said. “We didn’t really take care of the ball that well,” he said. “We started out very well but we let that lead slip away. We turned the ball over too much. That was more or less the story of the game.” Governor Simcoe rode to victory behind 22 points from Tim Ashcraft and 20 by Travis Berry. Greg Faulkner’s 17 points were high for the Crusaders with Justin Tulloch adding 11. Nine of Tulloch’s points came from three-point range, from where he finished 3-for-4. “He hit a couple of big shots for us,” said Dzierniejko, who also felt Brock Poirier was the team’s best player under the glass. “He had a monster game on the boards,” Dzierniejko said. “I’ve never really seen him play so aggressively in terms of fighting for rebounds.”
In the elimination second round: …………………………………………………… The 11th-seeded Peterborough Raiders stunned the 6th-seeded Mississauga Ascension of Our Lord Eagles 62-58. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded London Oakridge Oaks whipped the 14th-seeded Waterloo St. David Celtics 74-46. Peter Scholtes had 22 and Craig Hansford 18 for the Oaks. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Windsor Catholic Central Comets defeated the 15th-seeded Huntsville Hoyas 67-59. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Ottawa St. Patrick Fighting Irish stomped the 7th-seeded St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats 70-49 after leading 17-12, 32-25 and 54-39 at the quarters. Jamael Babineau led the Irish with 21. Afeworki Gebrekerestos added 17 and Greg Carter 10. Pat Mroczek led the Redcoats with 15. Tim Ashcraft added 14. “We got back to putting some defensive pressure on opponents and finally returned to our defensive potential,” Irish coach Mike Rowley said. “We ran them off the floor and shot the lights out, hitting 11 treys.” The Redcoats (coached by Larry Miller, assisted by Ahmed Ahmed and Jay Oliver) also included Travis Berry, Jason Whittaker, Lirim Hajrullahu, Jay Fast, Tim Ashcraft, Jake Planic, Edwin Zukanovic, Dominic Kucharski, John Schappert, Mike Myers and Jake Hayward. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs whipped 16th-seed Whitby Donald A. Wilson Gators 88-54 after leading 28-14, 39-30 and 48-43 at the quarters. Nicholas Wiggins led the Voyageurs with 22. Mitchell Wiggins added 14. Tristan Stern paced Donald A. Wilson with 21. Jay Ireland added 13. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Etobicoke Martingrove Bears defeated the 9th-seeded Brantford St. John’s Green Eagles 65-50. “They (Martingrove) came out hard and I don’t think the kids were as prepared for that as much as I thought they would be,” said Eagles’ head coach Nick Esposito. “We battled back, got it to 10 at the half and we got as close as three. If we had a little better start, it’s a whole different ball game.” Matthew Wright was outstanding for Martingrove as he scored 24 points. John-Alex DaBreo topped the Green Eagles with 12 points. Marc Bijman and Traynor Turkiewicz each scored eight points. Isaiah Joseph scored six points but the Eagles wouldn’t have been in the game without his rebounding, fighting for loose balls and defence The Eagles’ hopes for victory were actually lost when Joseph fouled out of the game with 4:30 remaining and St. John’s simply couldn’t rebound without Joseph on the floor. The Eagles (coached by Nick Esposito) also included Isaiah Joseph, Marc Bijman, Trayner Turkiewicz, Joe Dalia, Mike Bijman. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Toronto Central Commerce Riders swamped the 12th-seeded Sault Ste. Marie St. Basil Saints 67-32. St. Basil head coach Lou Mazzuca said his team had plenty of looks at the basket, but couldn’t put the ball through the hoop. And when they missed, the Central Commerce defenders were there to grab rebounds. “They’re a very athletic team,” Mazzuca told the Sault Star. “They only gave us one shot at a time. We didn’t play well. We didn’t shoot well at all.” St. Basil did go up 13-10 early, but when Central Commerce switched to a 1-3-1 zone, the Saints were forced to take long shots they couldn’t hit. “They out-rebounded us offensively and defensively,” said St. Basil’s Andrew King. Matt Bertolissi and Tom Campana each scored six points for the Saints. The Saints (coached by Mazzuca) also included Chris Hunt, Taylor Hiddleston. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Scarborough Jean Vanier Mavericks dusted 13th-seeded Kingston Holy Cross Crusaders 66-48 after leading 18-12, 35-29 and 49-31 at the quarters. Eric Smith led the Mavericks with 28. Abel Tesfai added 21. Brock Poirier led Holy Cross with 16. Greg Faulkner added 12. The Mavericks, ahead by six at the half, outscored the Crusaders 14-2 in the third quarter. Brock Poirier’s 16 points and 12 by Greg Faulkner were the high point men for Holy Cross. The Crusaders could not shut down Maverick big man Eric Smith, who dropped in 28 points. Abel Tesfai also scored 21. Holy Cross played the Mavericks even in the second and fourth quarters, both teams scoring 17 points. Jean Vanier did go in front 18-12 in the first quarter and was up 35-29 at the half. Holy Cross coach Robin Dzierniejko said the third quarter was a nightmare solely because the ball would just not drop for the Crusaders. “It’s not that we were doing things wrong or that we weren’t playing [well] enough defensively or offensively. Nothing we shot at the net fell in,” Dzierniejko said. “We had a lot of looks inside. We had shots from outside. Everything just rimmed out. You’re always going to have games like that. It’s just too bad that it had to happen at OFSAA.” The Crusaders (coached by Robin Dzierniejko) also included Alex Barr, Dave McAllister, Jermaine Edwards, Jordan Hulton.
In the quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded London Oakridge Oaks edged the Peterborough Raiders 45-40. Fifth-year guard Craig Hansford scored 19 for the Oaks. “Defensively we were really good,” said Oaks head coach John Curcio. “We held them to 40 points and that was a team that had been scoring 65, 70 every time out. We’ve defended really well the whole tournament — some days you’ve just got to win ugly. We have three starters who played in that quarter-final last year and credit to them. Craig Hansford simply wasn’t going to let our team lose tonight. We were not going to be content with just another quarter-final appearance.”
The 4th-seeded Ottawa St. Patrick Fighting Irish dumped the 2nd-seeded Windsor Catholic Central Comets 56-43 after leading 9-7, 26-18 and 41-32 at the quarters. Robert Pierce paced Catholic Central with 15. Chris Arcangel added 11. “It was one of the best defensive performance we’ve had all year,” Irish coach Mike Rowley told the Ottawa Citizen. “We’ve found our team game and in doing so, helped our offence and our shooting, particularly from the arc. We hit seven treys.” Afeworki Gebrekerestos paced the Irish with 12. Philbert Louis, Jamael Babineau and Brandon Jean each added 10. “Tonight, it was (Irish) speed versus their size. Our defensive ball pressure versus their lack of pressure. We made it very difficult for them to get a good look.,” said Irish coach Mike Rowley. “Team speed and half-court defence, those are the two things that win games for us. Now it’s a matter of coming back, improving on today and not going back to yesterday.” Robert Pierce scored 15 points for the Comets and Chris Arcangel got 11. The Comets (coached by Pete Cusumano, assisted by Dino Ruggirello and Dufour) also included Jacob Cusumano, Mark Mitchell, Chris Corrente, Tyrone Crawford, Matt Nuna, Gerald Secrest, Kory Crosby and Stason Golden.
The top-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs dumped the 8th-seeded Etobicoke Martingrove Bears 61-53. Mitchell Wiggins, an extremely talented player, scored 17 points to lead Vaughan to its victory over Martingrove. The Bears trailed 20-5 at the end of the first quarter but cut their deficit to three-points in the fourth quarter.
In the last quarterfinal, the 5th-seeded Toronto Central Commerce Riders clocked the 10th-seeded Scarborough Jean Vanier Mavericks 54-39 after leading 15-10, 24-15 and 34-24 at the quarters. Darnell Walters led the Riders with 54. Eric Smith paced the Mavericks with 14. Richard Peters added 8.
In the semis, the 4th-seeded Ottawa St. Patrick Fighting Irish clubbed the 3rd-seeded London Oakridge Oaks 56-37 after leading 13-10, 28-26 and 53-32 at the quarters. Jamael Babineau led the Irish with 12. Afeworki Gebrekerestos added 11, Brandon Jean 10 and Philbert Louis 9. T.J. Sanders and Michael Awadalla Shalaby each scored 9 to paced the Oaks. “Our defensive pressure was just phenomenal,” said Irish coach Mike Rowley. “We had a bit of a slow start getting our offence going and we were only up by two at the second half, we gave their ballhandlers fits. The guys just denied everything.”
In the other semi, the top-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs crushed the 5th-seeded Toronto Central Commerce Riders 73-46 after leading 16-8, 41-22 and 62-36 at the quarters. Nick Wiggins led the Voyageurs with 19. Joshua Collins added 17. Darnell Walters paced the Riders with 21. Shema Arnaud added 6.
In the bronze medal match, the 5th-seeded Toronto Central Commerce Riders edged the 3rd-seeded London Oakridge Oaks 59-53 after leading 12-8, 27-20 and 38-33 at the quarters. Darnell Williams paced the Riders with 21. Gamachu Ibrahim added 16. Craig Hansford led the Oaks with 22. Peter Scholtes added 9. The Oaks also included Kyle Marriott, Mike Shalaby, Michael Wright and TJ Sanders.
In the final, the 4th-seeded Ottawa St. Patrick Fighting Irish edged the top-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs 63-62 after leading 14-12, 25-14 and 38-35 at the quarters. A few days ago, it looked like doomsday for the St. Patrick Fighting Irish as they got a wake-up call in the opening round of the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ Triple-A boys’ basketball tournament in Paris. Instead, the Irish are celebrating the school’s first, and Ottawa’s fifth, provincial boys’ basketball crown after clipping the top-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs 63-62 on a pair of free throws that guard Aforki Gebrekerestos had with nine seconds to play in last night’s title bout. “After the opening round loss, we came as a team. We all spoke to each other and reminded each other what our goal was,” Gebrekerestos told the Ottawa Citizen. “All of us have been together for a long time. Our goal since we were kids was to get to this point and we finally did it.” Forward Jesse Duodu added that “we came together as a team after that loss. We never gave up. I think we were nervous in that first gave but we just said we’re not giving up. Maybe we got a lot intimidated or something but that loss motivated us. We came as a team today. Everybody stepped up and we never gave up. Our coaches, our bench, it was a very emotional game and we came through.” Duodu added that the Irish were determined to pull it out even though starting forward Brandon Jean couldn’t play. The Irish top defender and leading rebounder rushed home yesterday afternoon to catch a flight early this morning for a family vacation in Florida. The Triple-A final had originally scheduled for Wednesday but a winter storm closed Paris schools and forced a one-day delay. Irish coach Mike Rowley said his troops resolve and determination were nothing short of exceptional. “This is the most phenomenal experience I’ve ever experienced. This group of kids is incredible. They’ve worked hard for so long and they’ve earned this. They fought through every bit of adversity. We lost a starter but we just hung in there. These kids have the heart of a champion. It’s as simple as that. Defence and the kids stepped up and rebounded with Brandon. Thornhill just could not handle our defensive pressure.” Gebrekerestos paced St. Patrick with 17. Duodu added 16 and Jamael Babineau 15. Nicholas Wiggins led the Voyageurs with 25. St. Patrick held a 14-13 edge at the end of the first quarter and the Irish limited Vaughan to only one point in the second quarter to build a 27-14 advantage. The Voyageurs started the third quarter on a 7-0 run and trailed only 40-35 after three quarters. However, the Irish didn’t panic in the fourth quarter. Vaughan got to within three points early in the quarter but they didn’t get any closer until Carlos Isit hit a three-pointer as the final few seconds ticked off the clock. Afeworki Gebrekerestos topped the Irish with 17 points. Jesse Duodu got 16 and Jamael Babineau added 15 points. Irish point guard Greg Carter, who scored only seven points but was outstanding. Carter was a defensive genius and he ran the offence for St. Patrick. “It was great defence and we kept our composure offensively,” Carter said. “We played as a team.” Carter explained how the Irish overcame Vaughan’s height advantage. “We’re a little bit quicker and we did a good job boxing out, keeping the bigs off the boards.” The Irish played the championship game without their top rebounder Brandon Jean, who was called home by his parents after the semifinal game so he could be in Ottawa on time to leave with them on a family vacation. “We had a team meeting to talk how to distribute our rebounding skills,” Carter said. “We kept the (Vaughan) wings outside the paint.” The Wiggins brothers, Nick and Mitchell, topped the Vaughan scoring. Nick got 25 points and Mitchell scored 10. “It was a tough game,” said Voyageurs head coach Constantine Gymnopoulos, giving full marks to the Irish. “We picked up our defensive intensity in the second half and it worked. But at the same time, it was too late. “St. Pats was a team we hadn’t seen all year. They were a small, quick team and had good guard play.” While disappointed, Gymnopoulos said his club accomplished a lot this season. “We were the York Region champions and we got the provincial silver medal,” he said. “This is the farthest a Vaughan Secondary School senior team has gone in the school’s 19-year history. It was a good season (and) we’re proud of our accomplishment.”
The bronze medalist Toronto Central Commerce Riders: Darnell Walters; Gamachu Ibrahim; Shema Arnaud; Patrick Kalala; Abdimalik Mohamed; Jamal Paisley; Milos Janjic;
The silver medalist Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs: Joshua Collins; Nicholas Wiggins; Mitchell Wiggins; Greg Merritt; Kareem Frederick; James Choi; coach Constantine Gymnopoulos
The gold medalist Ottawa St. Patrick Fighting Irish: Greg Carter; Jesse Duodu; Afeworki Gebrekerestos; Jamael Babineau; Philbert Louis; Brandon Jean; Farshad Chezani-Sharai; Christian-Olivier Kondo-Pania; Rolph Estin; Sean Omumia; Stephen Rodriguez; Brian Nuwagaba; coach Mike Rowley; assistant Matt Koeslag; assistant Tina St. Amour; manager Emon Behjati; manager Anthony McIntosh