The Resurrection Phoenix almost had no business in winning their quarterfinal matchup on Saturday morning against Sault Ste Marie's St. Basil Secondary School.
The key word being almost.
Down by five to nine points for most of the contest, the Phoenix rallied when it counted most and were able to pull out a thrilling 2-point OT victory at Jacob Hespeler in Cambridge to advance to the championship semifinals of the 32-team SBCSS Invitational Tournament.
The Phoenix trailed 48-41 with about 5:00 to play but 5 straight points by the Phoenix had them within 2 with about 3:00 to play. They would actually take a 49-48 lead after Tyler Schneider hit a three-pointer about a minute later......only to see the Saints come back and regain the lead on the other end, and extend to a 54-51 lead with under :20 to play.
In a thrilling final sequence, the Phoenix were looking to get the ball to their three-point specialist, Tyler Schneider, who was well-covered by the Saints defense. A ball-swing resulted in an open look for forward Mike Pereira, who drilled a three-pointer with seconds left to tie the score at 54-54. St. Basil missed a halfcourt heave and we headed to OT.
In the extra session, a Pereira putback and another Resurrection basket gave the Phoenix a four point lead, and was all the scoring for the first 3:30 of the four-minute extra session. After a St. Basil missed three-pointer, Resurrection's Jamie Keil grabbed the rebound while flying out of bounds but saved the ball directly to St. Basil's Nick Palazzi, who converted the layup to cut Rez's lead to two points and :21 on the clock.
The Phoenix were called for travelling on a bang-bang play that could have been a foul call, giving the Saints a chance to tie the score or win the game outright. However, a contested layup by Mario Bruni was a bit strong, giving the Phoenix the win.
Pereira was huge for Resurrection, especially considering the absence of another starting forward, Andrew Mwangi (last year's D8 MVP). He finished with a game-high 23 points and added in 9 rebounds.
John Moi added 11 points off the bench for Resurrection, while Cory Kenning finished with 9.
St. Basil got 14 from Bruni, 12 from reserve forward Richard Anderson and 10 from Palazzi.
This marked the second straight season that St. Basil was eliminated from the tournament in overtime, as they fell to Bluevale Collegiate 60-55 last year in the championship semifinals.
Boxscore (Note - Two 16 minute halves)
Resurrection 24-30-04 = 58
St. Basil 29-25-02 = 56
Resurrection
J. Rodrigues 0-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
C. Gibbs 0-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 2 Ast - 0 Pts.
M. Pereira 11-21 FG, 0-0 FT, 9 Reb, 1 Ast - 23 Pts.
T. Schneider 3-12 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Ast - 8 Pts.
C. Kenning 4-4 FG, 1-1 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 9 Pts.
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J. Moi 3-4 FG, 4-4 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Ast - 11 Pts.
T. Bartley 1-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Ast - 2 Pts.
S. Cordle 2-5 FG, 0-0 FT, 6 Reb, 1 Ast - 4 Pts.
J. Chris 1-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
J. Keil 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 25-58 (.431). Free-Throws: 5-5 (1.000). Three-Point Goals, 5-19 (.263): T. Schneider 2-9, J. Moi 1-1, J. Chris 1-1, M. Pereira 1-2, J. Keil 0-1, C. Gibbs 0-2, J. Rodrigues 0-3.
St. Basil
M. Bertolissi 3-9 FG, 1-2 FT, 1 Reb, 3 Ast - 8 Pts.
M. Mazzuca 1-8 FG, 1-3 FT, 2 Reb, 3 Ast - 4 Pts.
M. Bruni 6-9 FG, 0-3 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 14 Pts.
N. Palazzi 4-9 FG, 1-2 FT, 5 Reb, 0 Ast - 10 Pts.
S. Campana 0-0 FG, 1-2 FT, 5 Reb, 0 Ast - 1 Pt.
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R. Anderson 4-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 12 Pts.
C. Bertolissi 2-5 FG, 2-2 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 7 Pts.
D. Scarpino 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
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