Right down to the end of the season, the NSSAA junior boys basketball league has been the definition of excitement. In the wake of two stellar and extremely close semifinal matches earlier this week, the Delhi Raiders visited the Simcoe Sabres Thursday to put on an encore for the ages.
The rematch of last year's title game saw the two teams separated by just two points after a quarter, and although the Raiders would jump out to a big lead in the second, the Sabres clawed their way back once again.
Finally in the third, it looked as though the Raiders would break through, leading by nine late.
The Sabres had other ideas, as once again, they rallied to tie the score and eventually take the lead. With one minute to play, Delhi's Marshall Winsor nailed a three pointer -- giving him a whopping five threes on the night -- and combined with two free throws by Drew Murray with seconds to play, the Raiders would hold on to win a wild one 38-35, their first title in a decade.
"It was all about the team. Everyone contributed, everybody played, it was just a great game," Delhi's Jacob Leger said. "We just had to come back and the coaches, they just pumped us up. We just got right back into it, had a good zone going through the whole game -- good defence."
With the old Raiders-Sabres rivalry renewed in both the junior and senior championships on the evening, fans from both sides came out in droves to produce a deafening level of sound and atmosphere.
Though the Sabres fans had much to cheer about when Wes Monkman and Brett Pond combined to net 12 fourth-quarter points, the Raiders kept their cool, made their shots, scrambled like it was their job to create turnovers and held out to win by a thread.
"When you were shooting four foul shots, you had to really block out all the noise and stuff," noted Leger. "Marshall, he played a really great game. He was just killing everybody inside so that really helped."
With Monkman and his 21 points dominating the game like he has at various points this season, the youngster was called for his fifth foul with 3:13 to play. The Sabres still had the lead, but with their hottest shooter on the bench, were unable to keep it, despite an inspired effort.
"It's really intense out there, you don't know what to do," said Pond.
"It was hard (without Monkman) he gets all our points for us. It really put a damper on things."
As mentioned, the result was the latest in a string of stirring finishes in the league this season, and one that is poised to continue as the Sabres and Raiders will move on to play in their respective CWOSSA Championships. While the Sabres take to the hardwood in Kitchener, the Raiders travel a short distance to Waterford on Wednesday. Before that though, the Raiders are going to bask in the glow of their first title since 2000-01 for a while.
"It was great, especially because they beat us in the regular season," said Leger.
"We beat them back here (last week) and we knew we could to it again and we just came back and did it."
Retrieved From: http://simcoereformer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2985057
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