WCSSAA Senior Semifinal #2: Bluevale 75, KCI 56

In a rematch of last year's WCSSAA semifinal, the Bluevale Knights held off a feisty KCI Raider squad and pulled away at the end to win by a 75-56 final.

The Knights jumped on the Raiders early, establishing a double digit lead within the first 4:00 of the contest. The Raiders hung tight through the second frame, and a Darnell Simpson dunk in transition brought the Raiders to within 10 (32-22). The high-scoring first half ended with the Knights up 10 (49-39).

The Raiders got to single digits in the third quarter (53-44), but that was as close as they would get. The Knights outscored the Raiders 13-6 in the final frame to win this one going away.

It's funny to say that Stefan Cvrkalj didn't have his best day shooting when he scores 36 points, but he got to the foul line 14 times (and converted 13). He had 23 of those 36 points in the first half. Perhaps even more impressive than those numbers is the fact that he was under the weather this past week and missed some practice time due to that illness.

Fellow Knight Andrew Beney had 12 points and 7 rebounds against an undersized KCI front line.

Arben Kalaba led KCI with 17 points off the bench, while Darnell Simpson put home 12 points and 7 rebounds.

KCI 14-25-11-06 = 56
BCI 25-24-13-13 = 75

KCI (56)
T. Ruddock 0-1, 1-2 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 1 Pt.
D. Simpson 4-12, 4-6 FT, 7 Reb, 1 Ast - 12 Pts.
M. Bauman 0-0, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
G. Notar 1-5, 2-2 FT, 6 Reb, 0 Ast - 4 Pts.
D. Weber 1-5, 2-2 FT, 7 Reb, 0 Ast - 4 Pts.
A. Kalaba 6-14, 4-5 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 17 Pts.
A. Galea 3-5, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 6 Pts.
L. Dabic 3-5, 3-3 FT, 0 Reb, 2 Ast - 10 Pts.
E. Bajramovic 1-2, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.

Field Goals: .388. Free-Throws: .800. Three-Point Goals, 2-12, .167 (No. 30 1-2, Kalaba 1-6, Notar 0-1, No. 25 0-1, Simpson 0-1).

Bluevale (75)
S. Cvrkalj 10-24, 13-14 FT, 3 Reb, 6 Ast - 36 Pts.
A. Beney 5-12, 2-3 FT, 7 Reb, 1 Ast - 12 Pts.
F. Voll 1-2, 2-4 FT, 4 Reb, 0 Ast - 4 Pts.
D. Balak 2-2, 1-2 FT, 6 Reb, 0 Ast - 5 Pts.
K. Beney 4-6, 0-1 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 9 Pts.
P. Smith 3-6, 3-4 FT, 3 Reb, 0 Ast - 9 Pts.
A. Zack 0-1, 0-0 Ft, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.

Field Goals: .481. Free-Throws: .750. Three-Point Goals: 4-12, .333 (Cvrkalj 3-8, K. Beney 1-3, Smith 0-2).