Waterloo CI 46, Grand River 44
The Waterloo Collegiate Vikings held off a furious rally by the Grand River Renegades and captured the WCSSAA junior championship by a 46-44 score in overtime yesterday at Cameron Heights.
It was far from pretty, at least in the early going. Both teams showed some early jitters and turned the ball over with regularity. The first half saw only 30 points scored between the two teams, with the Vikes taking a 20-10 edge into halfitme.
Another 8-4 push by WCI got them up by 14 points (28-14), but that's where things started to turn around for Grand River. They went on a 16-2 run over the remainder of the third quarter and early fourth to tie the game at 30-30.
Waterloo made one last big push to open up a 6 point lead after Jeremy Scott made an "and one" with just over 3:00 to go (40-34). Filip Cvrkalj came right back and drilled a three, and that began to set up a very exciting finish.
Fast forward to about 1:30 to go; the Renegades actually took a brief lead after 2 Chuder Teny free throws put them up by one (41-40). Malcolm Piazza (who was 0-for-2 from the line on the night) calmly drilled 2 on the other end with :45 left to put the Vikes back in front.
After a Grand River miss, Adam Anagnostopoulos kept the door open just a bit for Grand River by missing the front end of a one-and-one.
With about :25 left, Chuder Teny was fouled and converted 1-of-2 to tie the game back up. Surprisingly, each squad had several chances after that. Teny was actually fouled with about 8.5 to go after a scramble and a Grand River rebound off a WCI miss. However, he missed the free throw attempt.
In the scramble for the rebound, the ball popped loose and WCI's Malcolm Piazza and Jacob Ranton had essentially a 2-on-zero for a layup at the other end.......however, Piazza took a high dribble and the ball fumbled out of bounds with one second left in regulation.
(Interestingly enough, I thought GRCI's Nikola Bevan was going to get a foul call for what appeared to be a shove out of bounds after the whistle ---- thankfully, the referees let these two teams decide it on the court).
After a full-court heave fell short by Cvrkalj, we went to overtime where Anagnostopoulos gave WCI a quick lead right off the opening tip when he raced in for a layup. Only 6 points were scored in the extra frame, with WCI putting in 4 of them for the victory.
The Rens' had an inbounds under WCI's basket with 1.5 to go in the extra frame and down 2, but Cvrkalj's three-ball at the buzzer came up short.
Cvrkalj led GRCI and all scorers with 19 points. Teny added 10 for the Rens.
For WCI, their balanced attack was led by Piazza (12), Jeremy Scott (11), and Anagnostopoulos (11). The Vikes proved that they have several guys that can hurt you as their top gunner in their 2 prior playoff games, Jacob Ranton, was held off the scoresheet on Tuesday.
All in all, it proved to be one of the most exciting WCSSAA finals in recent memory.
WCI will take the WCSSAA #1 position at "AAAA" CWOSSA this weekend and will be in a pool with Resurrection CSS (D8) & John F. Ross of Guelph from the D10 league.
Grand River (WCSSAA #2) will be in pool play with St. John's of Brantford and Guelph Centennial.
GRCI 04-10-16-16-02 = 44
WCI 08-12-10-12-04 = 46
GRCI (44)
C. Teny 4-8, 2-5 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 10 Pts.
C. Coates 2-12, 1-1 FT, 6 Reb, 0 Ast - 5 Pts.
F. Cvrkalj 6-15, 4-4 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Ast - 19 Pts.
N. Walker 3-8, 2-5 FT, 3 Reb, 0 Ast - 8 Pts.
T. Hasani 1-5, 0-0 FT, 4 Reb, 4 Ast - 2 Pts.
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N. Bevan 0-3, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: .314. Free-Throws: 9-15, .600. Three-Point Goals, 3-11, .272 (Cvrkalj 3-8, Coates 0-1, Teny 0-2).
WCI (46)
A. Anagnostopoulos 5-14, 1-5 FT, 8 Reb, 3 Ast - 11 Pts.
J. McGowan 2-4, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 4 Pts.
Z. Totzke 3-10, 0-0 FT, 4 Reb, 1 Ast - 6 Pts.
M. Piazza 5-7, 2-4 FT, 6 Reb, 1 Ast - 12 Pts.
J. Ranton 0-7, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
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J. Scott 5-7, 1-3 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 11 Pts.
D. Elgadi 1-1, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
J. Thangaraj 0-1, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: .412. Free Throws: 4-12, .333. Three-Point Goals: 0-4, .000 (Anagnostopoulos 0-1, Totzke 0-1, Ranton 0-3).
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