In the opening seeding round, held in Ottawa: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Ottawa St. Matthew Tigers dusted the 11th-seeded Barrie St. Joseph’s Catholic Jaguars 62-38. The Tigers shamelessly exploited their superiority in the post as they dispatched St. Joseph. Although they struggled to find their shooting touch early, they dominated the boards on both ends of the floor as the teams played to a 15-15 draw. Then St. Matthew unleashed its horses in the post. Garnet Blais got nasty on the offensive glass and Tyson Hinz kept slipping beautiful passes through double-teams to Blais as the Tigers exploded for a 25-2 run. St. Matthew soon had the lead at 29 and coasted to the easy win. Blais, who scored 28, told the Ottawa Citizen that he benefited greatly from Hinz’s deliveries and the Jaguars decision of lay off on him defensively. “I don’t know. They didn’t play any defence on me. Maybe they just thought I wasn’t that good.” Blais added that after the Tigers shook off the first game OFSAA jitters, they were also able to execute their offence as planned. “We got it going inside and hit some shots.” Tigers coach Jason Wren said his troops simply took advantage of size mismatches. “Our shots weren’t dropping in the first quarter, so we said, we gotta go inside and we did that very effectively.” It was a good way to shake out the tournament jitters, Wren added. “This sets the tone for the rest of the games.” Hinz added 15 for St. Matthew, while Kyle Ring tossed in 8. Jeff Plunkett paced the Jaguars with 12. Matt Gullia added 8. The score was knotted at 13 after one quarter. The Tigers led 29-17 at the half and 47-23 after three quarters. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded North York Emery Eagles clipped the 16th-seeded Sault Ste. Marie Bawating Braves 62-47 as Anthony Ottley scored 15. Jordan Fresque paced the Braves with 19. Emery led 21-15 after one quarter. Bawating led 29-26 at the half and the Eagles 44-36 after three quarters. Bawating hit 6-16 from the line. “That was a disappointment,” Braves coach Don Muto said. “In the second half, we just didn’t execute. We couldn’t put the ball through the hoop.” …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Waterloo St. David Celtics stunned the 3rd-seeded Oakville St. Ignatius of Loyola Hawks 72-62 as Bryson Johnson scored 31. Ostap Choliy led the Hawks with 21. Loyola led 20-14 after one quarter. St. David led 48-36 at the half and 55-50 after three quarters. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded London Oakridge Oaks stomped the 14th-seeded Peterborough Thomas A. Stewart Griffins 66-33 as Peter Scholtes scored 25. Taylor Robinson led the Griffins with 6. Oakridge led 19-5, 33-11 and 57-23 at the quarters. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs crushed the 12th-seeded Kingston Collegiate Blues 78-45 as Joshua Collins scored 12 and Motti Ali 11. Zach MacDonald led the Blues with 15. Vaughan led 21-4, 39-15 and 61-35 at the quarters. “They came out a lot harder than us and with way more intensity,” said Blues forward Tyrone Parkes. Zac MacDonald added that “we let them get out to a quick start and gain confidence early and they just kept building on that confidence through strong, aggressive play.” Blues coach Dave Nichols said “that Vaughan team is one of the best in Ontario. Under the circumstances, I thought we played as best we could. They were just too strong, too fast, too good.” …………………………………………………… The 15th-seeded Whitby Anderson Raiders upset the 5th-seeded Stoney Creek Orchard Park Patriots 63-57 as Dyshawn Pierre scored 25 and Justin Edwards 21. Nikola Manojilovic led the Patriots with 16. Jagroop Ghottra added 12. Anderson led 14-9, 27-23 and 42-39 at the quarters. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Etobicoke Martingrove Bears dumped the 10th-seeded Ottawa Sir Robert Borden Bengals 74-45. The stars appeared to be aligning for the Bengals against the Bears as Martingrove star Matthew Wright picked up two quick fouls and Borden rallied within 34-31 at the half on a quartet of late three-pointers by Chris Ossa. Borden, though, threw the ball away on their first four consecutive possession of the second half and often looked entirely confused on both ends of the floor, declining to challenge Bear guards Wright and Justin Bakuteka as they repeatedly drove the paint for uncontested short, pull-up jumpers or layups. The Bengals soon trailed by double digits and Martingrove pulled away down the stretch as Borden’s focus and competitiveness wilted. “We just don’t know how to stay with it for 32 minutes. For some reason, we’re not disciplined,” Borden coach Dan Case told the Ottawa Citizen. “We give up on each other. When something goes wrong, we just look to blame and then we give up defensively. Instead of sharing the basketball, we decided we’re just going to jack it up at every opportunity.” Bakuteka, who scored 31, said Martingrove simply “played hard and kept our heads in it.” Bears coach Shawn Gray said his troops “wanted to leave no room for error. So we came out with a good aggressive start. We haven’t even shown our whole repertoire yet.” Wright added 12, Mohamed Osman and Troy McDonald 10 for Martingrove. Ossa paced Borden with 23. Nikola Misljencevic added 10. Martingrove led 14-10, 34-31 and 57-41 at the quarters. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Windsor W.F. Herman Green Griffins whipped the 13th-seeded Etobicoke Don Bosco Eagles 67-55 as Jordan Gauthier scored 30. Antoine Chandler added 13. Curtis Baanee led the Eagles with 17. Mussie Haile added 17. Don Bosco led 19-14 after one quarter and 44-32 at the half. Herman led 50-48 after three quarters.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Ottawa St. Matthew Catholic Tigers crushed the 16th-seeded Sault Ste. Marie Bawating Braves 67-45 after leading 22-8, 35-20 and 53-27 at the quarters. Tyson Hinz paced the Tigers with 23. Garnet Blais added 14. Jordan Fresque led the Braves with 19. Matthew Leask added 12. Braves coach Don Muto told the Sault Star that Fresque and Leask “played well for us. We didn’t get much contribution from anyone else. Lack of depth really hurt us in this one.” The Braves (coached by Donny Muto, assisted by Paolo DeMarco) also included David Giulietti, David Pipoli, Corey Lecuyer, Brent Irwin, Jesse Hill, Anthony Dellavedova, Thomas Hotchkiss, Chase Cripps and Brent Nebenionquit. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded London Oakridge Oaks dispatched the 3rd-seeded Oakville St. Ignatius of Loyola Hawks 49-38. Loyola led 9-5, 19-17 and 33-25 at the quarters. Peter Scholtes led the Oaks with 14. Michael L’Africain paced the Hawks with 13. The Hawks (coached by Gary Laurin, assisted by Reno Malisha) also included Mikeal Andrews, Orayne Bennett, Rohan Boney, Ostap Choliy, Zachary Colangelo, Daniel Dyrda, Steven Koffi, Paulo Militar, Gabe Petho, Adam Presutti, Peter Rusic and David Venturi. …………………………………………………… The 15th-seeded Whitby Anderson Raiders clocked the 12th-seeded Kingston Collegiate Blues 73-40 after leading 13-12, 27-20 and 48-28 at the quarters. Justin Edwards led the Raiders with 22. Paul Grass paced the Blues with 9. The Blues (coached by Dave Nichols) also included Zach MacDonald, Trevor Collin, Cory Houde-Shulman, Steven Collin, Tyrone Parkes, Patrick Reilly, Matt Pearson, Patrick Cuthbertson, Zeke Colbert, Jon Mwinda and Andrew Teglas. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Etobicoke Martingrove Bears stomped the 13th-seeded Etobicoke Don Bosco Eagles 75-55 after leading 15-10, 39-19 and 53-36 at the quarters. Matthew Wright led the Bears with 25. Felix Adjei paced the Eagles with 19. The Eagles (coached by Steve Hopkins, assisted by David Perry, Mike Smith and Kabir Abdurrahman) also included Andrew Adjei, Brandon Boakye, Andre Brown, Curtis Baanee, Mussie Haile, Devane Ambrusley-Clarke, Riam Sigua, Raynard Sigua, Gabriel Ababio and Dube Andrew. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded North York Emery Eagles nipped the 11th-seeded Barrie St. Joseph’s Jaguars 38-34. St. Joseph’s led 10-8, 22-15 and 32-29 at the quarters. Robert Clarke paced the Eagles with 12. Kadeem Francis added 10 and Anthony Ottley 10. Jeff Plunkett led the Jaguars with 17. The Jaguars (coached by Harold Regan, assisted by Drew Taylor) also included Thompson Patrick, Adam Kovacs, Craig Lemmon, Ben Sluzar, Andrew Facciolo, Matt Gullia, David Inkumsah, Park Paclibar, Jerome Graham, Tyler Hamilton, Brandon Thwaites and Spencer McPherson. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Waterloo St. David Celtics defeated the 14th-seeded Peterborough Thomas A. Stewart Griffins 53-43. St. David led 12-9 after one quarter and 26-17 at the half. The score was knotted at 34 after three quarters. Bryson Johnson paced the Celtics with 23. John Heaton led the Griffins with 16. The Griffins (coached by Craig Muir, assisted by Kelly Harris) also included Brock Snudden, Quinn Stringer, Lucas Bent, Liam O’Toole, Keaton Robbins, Dan Hansford, Dan Peart, Kevin Chan, Chris MacFarlane, Anthony Spiridis, Rob Zwart, Colin Pilkey, Lucas Hoppe and Taylor Robinson. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs edged the 5th-seeded Stoney Creek Orchard Park Patriots 50-45. Orchard Park led 17-15 after one quarter. Vaughan led 32-25 at the half. Orchard Park led 39-34 after three quarters. Josh Collins paced the Voyageurs with 17. Nikola Manojlovic led the Patriots with 20. The Patriots (coached by James McDonald, assisted by Mark Lambert) also included Wasse Wahidi, Aleksa Teodorcevic, Omari Lone, Faruk Golotic, Taylor Black, Mathew Kit, Satar Wahidi, Jagroop Ghottra, Abraham Botha, Carlin McLean and Jasprett Dhaliwal. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Ottawa Sir Robert Borden Bengals nipped the 7th-seeded Windsor W.F. Herman Green Griffins 55-52 as Chris Ossa hit a trey at the buzzer. Ossa finished with 26 points, while Antwan Ferguson paced Herman with 13. Matt Barker added 12. Herman led 17-7, 27-24 and 38-32 at the quarters. The Griffins (coached by Reg Hart, assisted by Jeff Seguin, Matt Loebach and Dan Lumley) also included Antoine Chandler, Arjen Colquhoun, Jordon Gauthier, Darnell Girard, Elijah Hesley, Charles Johnson, Deandre Jones, Tommy Robinson Blyth, Cyle Teaney and Dalton Lumley.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Ottawa St. Matthew Tigers blasted the 8th-seeded London Oakridge Oaks 65-38. Led by a lockdown defensive performance from Jeremy Leonard-Smith, the Tigers easily dispatched the Oaks. St. Matthew held Oakridge to a scant nine points, and Leonard-Smith held Oaks star Peter Scholtes scoreless, over a two-quarter stretch. “The key was just to not let him get an open look,” Leonard-Smith told the Ottawa Citizen. “I tried to do the best I can and my teammates helped me out on the switches. All around, we played a good defensive game, a lot of talking, a lot of good rotations.” The Tigers spotted the Oaks nine points by sitting back in a zone and allowing Scholtes to shoot over it before switching to a man-to-man defence and rallying within 16-13 after one quarter on a pair of treys by Scott Ring and two excellent post moves from Tyson Hinz. Then the Tigers went to work defensively, denying the Oaks anything in the way a good look for the next two frames. They ripped off a 12-2 run featuring a pair of perimeter jumpers Gavin Resch, a superlative steal from Leonard off Scholtes for a transition layup and an acrobatic putback rebound by Tyler Hinz. They extended the lead to 33-21 at the half on another trey by Resch and a post-up by Garnet Blais. Leonard-Smith set the tone quickly in the second half by scrapping for an offensive board and an old-fashioned three-point play. He added another putback rebound and took a charge as St. Matthew built its lead to 49-26 after three quarters and romped. Tigers coach Jason Wren said Leonard-Smith’s and the team’s defence was as good as it’s been on all season. “We knew that once we switched to man-to-man, we’d wear them out. I gotta give credit to Jeremy. We had a talk before the game and reinforced what he means to this team. He was everything we needed (Tuesday).” Four Tigers notched double figures, led by Leonard-Smith 13, Blais 12, Resch 11 and Hinz 11. Scholtes paced the Oaks with 14. Michael Awadalla Shalaby added 11. The Oaks (coached by John Curcio, assisted by Dino Fotia) also included Daniel Chelladurai, Ilias Ettayebi, Tyler O’Shea, Bryan Rybansky, T.J. Sanders, Patrick Sandlak and Ubong Umoh.
The 4th-seeded Etobicoke Martingrove Bears stomped the 15th-seeded Whitby Anderson Raiders 72-49 after leading 22-8, 35-27 and 55-41 at the quarters. Matthew Wright led Martingrove with 20. Justin Bakuteka added 17. Dyshawn Pierre led the Raiders with 21. The Raiders (coached by Dean Hutchcroft, assisted by Luigi Leonardis and Crosby Mendoza) also included Adam Brown, Justin Edwards, Tyler Gallea, Duane Henry, Jordan Holt, Jacob Hutchcroft, Christopher Pinette, Timothy Russell, Matthew Douma, Jayson Henry and Deshaun Tinglin-Campbell.
The 6th-seeded North York Emery Eagles defeated the 9th-seeded Waterloo St. David Celtics 51-43 after leading 19-10, 34-22 and 38-34 at the quarters. Robert Clarke led the Eagles with 14. Bryson Johnson paced the Celtics with 20. The Celtics (coached by Dave MacNeil, assisted by Aaron Tomlin, Scott Weiler and Mike Berry) also included Mike Breuer, Sean Bowman, Marcus Hummel, Daniel Hummel, Sean Meagher, Ton Krzysztofik, Mike Schummer, Tyson Lavigne, Jeff Scanlon, Nick Robelek and Patrick Montag.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Thornhill Vaughn Voyageurs edged the 10th-seeded Ottawa Sir Robert Borden Bengals 55-54. Vaughan led 20-16 after one quarter and 37-29 at the half. Borden led 45-44 after three quarters. Joshua Collins paced the Voyageurs with 27. Chris Ossa led the Bengals with 20. The Bengals (coached by Dan Case, assisted by Patrick Kirkham) also included Troy Kenny, Nikola Misljencevic, Mike Anderson, Stefan Veletic, Harrison Freeman, Milan Vukovic, Kevin Hertz, Stephen Kwai, Sekou Kaba, James Morrice, Amin Majidi, Amir Majidi, Hugh Morgan, Calin Deguefe and Mohammed Aden.
In the semis, the top-seeded Ottawa St. Matthew Tigers defeated the 4th-seeded Etobicoke Martingrove Bears 57-52. Martingrove led 13-11, 28-18 and 41-39 at the quarters.
In the other semi, the 6th-seeded North York Emery Eagles edged the 2nd-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs 62-57. Vaughan led 13-11 after one quarter and 27-26 at the half. Emery led 42-39 after three quarters. Robert Clarke paced the Eagles with 21. Kadeem Francis added 18. Joshua Collins led the Voyageurs with 25.
In the bronze medal match, the 2nd-seeded Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs defeated the 4th-seeded Etobicoke Martingrove Bears 75-71 in overtime. The Voyageurs nailed six free throws in the extra session to pull out the win. James Choi paced Vaughan with 18. Josh Collins added 15. Matthew Wright led Martingrove with 25. Justin Bakuteka added 12, Mohamed Osman 11 and Steven Manojlovic 11. The Bears (coached by Shawn Gray, assisted by Chris Sommerfelt) also included Troy McDonald, Amanjit Dhillon, Mohamed Mohamed, J.J. Williams, Basil McFarlane, Mohamed Wareh, Mohamed Elkahlifa, Peja Spanovic, Kamal Ahmed, Hanad Ahmed and Dujoun Brown.
In the final, the top-seeded Ottawa St. Matthew Tigers dumped the North York Emery Eagles 57-47. Over the course of the season, the St. Matthew Tigers appeared to play every game as they were trying to craft a masterpiece. They faltered just once but, in the end, when it really mattered, after the championship final of the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association’s Triple-A draw, the team with all the parts capped a sparkling 45-1 campaign with the school’s first provincial basketball title. The top-seeded Tigers delivered a spellbinder as they became the second consecutive National Capital Secondary Schools Athletic Association to win the Triple-A championship, duplicating the feat of the St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish a year ago. They did with the ingenuity of point guard Scott Ring, the post prowess of Tyson Hinz and Garnet Blais, the defence of Jeremy Leonard-Smith, the marksmanship of Kyle Ring and Gavin Resch, and a measure of exceptional coaching from Jason Wren and assistant Will Hinz. “It just feels great,” Hinz, who scored 23, told the Ottawa Citizen. “This was our goal, all season, to win this game and we did it.” Scott Ring said the Tigers versatility held them in good stead all season, as it did in the final. “We can go inside. We can outside. We’re tough to stop.” Kyle Ring added “that’s the thing, we’re a team. No individual play, and good defence. That’s what won it for us.” The Tigers unselfishness was evident from the start of the season, said Wren. “A team game wins every time. These guys distribute the ball to the open player. Each guy helps on defence. We did a great job.” The Tigers offensive balance and versatility proved problematic for the Eagles in the first half as they took advantage of mismatches to build a 32-21 lead at the half. They effectively used high-low sets to establish entry passes from Hinz to Blais – and vice versa – for layups, while point guard Scott Ring shrewdly dictated the tempo and delivered several perfect pitches to twin brother Kyle Ring for perimeter jumpers. While they defended with intensity, the Tigers had considerable difficulty handling agile Eagle post Anthony Ottley, who scored 15 in the half, including a pair of treys. Emery rallied to within 38-37 early in the second half as Kadeem Francis kept attacking with the penetration dribble, but the Tigers countered with a 12-2 run in which Hinz featured on every play, nailing free throws, slipping passes to teammates for layups and posting up for several spinning buckets as St. Matthew took control down the stretch. Hinz paced St. Matthew with 23. Kyle Ring added 12, Blais 11, Scott Ring 7 and Leonard-Smith 4. Ottley led Emery with 20. Francis added 19.
The bronze medalist Thornhill Vaughan Voyageurs: Davion Eccles; James Choi; Josh Collins; Carlos Isit; Dejuan Sutherland; Motti Ali; Cy Richard Samuels; Roshane Roberts; Aiidian Walters; Dinjiyl Walker; Kevin Bartman; Zakhar Hutsul; Keenan Dobbin-Gold; Jameel Harrison; coach Constantine Gymnopoulos; assistant Nizam Alkins; assistant Mohamed Saleh
The silver medalist Toronto Emery Eagles: Anthony Ottley; Robert Clarke; Kadeem Francis; Nathan Wright; Khalid Wilson; Tauyib Khan; Joseph Adamu; Shaquille Matthews; Donovan Whyte; coach Bob Maydo; assistant Justin Antonio; assistant Ryan Rasmussen
The gold medalist Ottawa St. Matthew Catholic Tigers: Scott Ring; Tyson Hinz; Garnet Blais; Jeremey Leonard-Smith; Kyle Ring; Gavin Resch; Jason Foucault; Kingque Quan; Christian Meredith; Derek Kenney; Michael Forson; Cyril Babalola; Robert Anastosov; coach Jason Wren; assistant Will Hinz