Bluevale 51, SJAM 45
......and the monkey is finally off of Bluevale's back after 38 years.
Andrew Beney put in 22 points and grabbed 9 rebounds; Stefan Cvrkalj added 18 points and the Bluevale CI Knights captured their first senior WCSSAA championship in school history by holding off the SJAM Highlanders 51-45.
The Knights got some sweet first-half shooting by Cvrkalj, and excellent interior play from Beney who found some serious space in the SJAM zone to led 28-21 at halftime. In fact, Beney (13) and Cvrkalj (12) combined for 25 of BCI's 28 points in the first half.
Bluevale continued to play well in the third and led 41-28 after three. A quick Andrew Beney bucket early in the 4th put the Knights up 15.
At that point, it looked like it might be over but the Highlanders began to chip away. By the 4:00 mark, they were throwing everything they had at the Knights and were really beginning to threaten. In fact, when Karsten Beney picked up his 5th foul with 3:05 to go, the Knights were only up 6 (43-37).
It seemed like Stefan Cvrkalj had given the Knights some breathing room as he hit a couple of free throws to the chant of "M V P" with 1:13 left. However, the 'Landers roared right back and cut the lead to 47-45.
Cue a little redemption for Drew Ballak.
If you recall, the Knights' forward missed two pressure free throws against Brampton Notre Dame in the final of the St. Benedict tournament in Cambridge. Bluevale ended up losing that game in overtime to the Brampton squad.
This time, with less than half a minute to play, he calmly drilled both free throws and gave the Knights a two-possession lead that they would extend at the end when Cvrkalj added 2 more FTs for the game's final margin.
Alongside Beney's 22 points and Cvrkalj's 18, Ballak added 8 points and 12 rebounds.
For SJAM, Jake Robinet had 13 points but encountered his struggles at the free throw line (0-for-5). Edem Ame chipped in with 12.
Both teams had their struggles from behind the arc, combining for a 5-for-30 (16.7%) showing.
The Knights will play in "Pool A" at CWOSSA alongside Kitchener Resurrection and Guelph Centennial. SJAM will be in "Pool B" with Guelph JF Ross and Brantford St. John's.
SJAM (45)
E. Ame 2-6, 8-10 FT, 6 Reb, 2 Ast - 12 Pts.
J. James 3-8, 1-2 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 7 Pts.
B. Reyhani 2-10, 2-2 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 8 Pts.
K. Botchway 1-3, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
J. Robinet 6-14, 0-5 FT, 8 Reb, 0 Ast - 13 Pts.
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B. Reiter 0-0, 0-1 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
M. Hamm 1-3, 1-1 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
Field Goals: .340. Free-Throws: 12-20, .600. Three-Point Goals: 3-17, .176 (Reyhani 2-9, Robinet 1-3, James 0-2, Botchway 0-2, Hamm 0-1).
BCI (51)
S. Cvrkalj 5-10, 6-6 FT, 4 Reb, 3 Ast - 18 Pts.
A. Beney 10-17, 2-4 FT, 9 Reb, 1 Ast - 22 Pts.
F. Voll 0-3, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 3 Ast - 0 Pts.
D. Ballak 3-6, 2-4 FT, 12 Reb, 0 Ast - 8 Pts.
K. Beney 1-6, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Ast - 2 Pts.
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P. Smith 0-4, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
A. Zack 0-1, 0-1 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: .404. Free-Throws: 10-15, .667. Three-Point Goals: 2-13, .154 (Cvrkalj 2-6, Zack 0-1, K. Beney 0-2, Smith 0-4).
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