WCSSAA Junior Finals Preview: #6 Grand River vs #4 Waterloo CI

Two of the top WCSSAA junior basketball programs over the past 15 years or so will square off on Tuesday night at Cameron Heights (7:00pm) in the WCSSAA final.

The Renegades (8-4 during the year) and the Vikings (9-3 regular season) were written off by some in favour of teams like Forest Heights and Cameron Heights who finished 1st and 2nd respectively. Yet the Rens are making their traditional late season run and find themselves against a WCI squad that has played well through the first two games of the playoffs to secure their spot in the finals.

If this game is anything like their regular season matchup on December 17th, it should be a dandy. The Vikes escaped that one with a 53-51 victory over GRCI on the Rens' home court. In that outing, 3 Vikes scored in double figures while Filip Cvrkalj had 20 for Grand River.

Now, the sweet-shooting Cvrkalj has been ill over the past week or so but it definitely didn't impact him on Saturday afternoon when he poured in 28 points in a semifinal win over Cameron. We'll see what his status is today (he didn't start on Saturday). That said, the Rens have a capable supporting cast led by grade 9 guard Chuder Teny and grade 10 forward Nate Walker.

The Vikes on the other hand have their own three-point threat in guard Jacob Ranton. He's especially dangerous on inbounds plays ---- so the Rens can't afford to forget about him there. He had 2 or 3 of his threes against Huron Heights in that manner. On the interior, big man Malcolm Piazza is a double-double threat each night and will need to have another solid effort tonight.

It will also be interesting to see what both teams throw at each other. The Vikes have had success with their half court pressure during the playoffs, while the Rens came up with their own unique way of containing CHCI's Vedran Dmitrovic and Nem Simic (triangle-and-two I think?).

Anyways it should be a classic but I'll take the Vikes, who are hot right now, in a thriller.

****Projection/Pick: Waterloo 53, Grand River 48****

Grand River Collegiate Renegades - Team Roster (Visitors - Dark Uniforms)

#3 - Chuder Teny, G/F - Grade 9

#5 - Chris Coates, F

#10 - Jag Sidhu, G

#11 - Filip Cvrkalj, G/F

#13 - Nate Walker, G/F

#22 - Jessie Johnson, G

#23 - Jon Milks, G - Grade 9
#24 - Dusan Sekulic, F - Grade 9

#32 - Jamie Rintoul, C - Grade 9

#33 - Dheeran Parmar, G

#34 - Taulant Hasani, F

#35 - Amir Zeric, G - Grade 9

#42 - Ethan Brazeau, F - Grade 9

#45 - Jimmy Lad, F

#52 - Nikola Bevan, C

Coaches: Mr. R. Lang, Mr. T. Henderson.

Waterloo Collegiate Vikings - Team Roster (Home - Light Uniforms)

#4 - Shafi Mutwari, 5'5" G, Grade 9

#5 - Adam Anagnostopoulos, 5'11" G, Grade 9

#12 - Aaron Lott, 5'8" G, Grade 9

#14 - John McGowan, 6'0" G/F

#25 - Dani Elgadi, 6'2" F

#30 - Jeyan Thangaraj, 5'5" G

#32 - Sohrab Kasi, 5'10" G/F

#35 - Landon Cowieson, 5'10" G/F

#40 - Zach Totzke, 5'11" G

#41 - Malcolm Piazza, 6'6" F

#42 - Max Pfeifle, 5'11" G/F

#44 - Jacob Ranton, 6'3" G/F

#52 - Jeremy Scott, 6'1" F

Coach: Mr. D. Ranton