Simcoe Reformer: Titans Topple Bears

Article By:  Jacob Robinson

Thursday's game between the second seeded Holy Trinity Titans and Valley Heights Bears featured two of the best point guards in the league, both statistically and intangibly.

While veteran Jay Knelsen leads a group of young Bears towards a likely playoff berth, Josh Johnson has become a surgeon for the Titans, dissecting a play in seconds and making it look seamless.

Both had the hot hand on Thursday as Knelsen paced all scorers with 25 points while Johnson buried four three pointers en route to a 24-point performance. Johnson's Titans came ahead with the eventual 57-48 win.

Johnson and Holy Trinity came charging out of the gates, building up an 11-4 advantage in a slowly paced first quarter. In the second, both teams began to up the tempo, as the Titans netted 19 in the frame and the Bears countered with 14.

At the start of the third, Knelsen had a pair of lay-ups, helping his team go on a 9-2 run to open the quarter and cut Holy Trinity's lead to five.

"He's a good leader, he makes everyone better with nice passes and he's got a great shot," said Bears shooter John Rempel, noting the much-improved effort from Valley Heights in their second meeting versus the Titans.

"I think we did better than last time, we ran the ball down the court more, more fast breaks -- I think that's what got us in the game."

The sudden Bears surge made it 32-27, but Johnson and Holy Trinity quickly began to turn up the heat, scoring 12 to finish the third and go up by 10.

The Bears battled back once again in the fourth, getting within seven, only to see the Titans pull away a final time.

"Basically full court pressure helped us out there, it got them (playing) really hectic," said Titans big man Kevin McDonald. Holy Trinity was able to hold onto the lead all game thanks to Johnson, Andrew Mattan and his 10 points, and some spread out scoring that had multiple Titans register field goals.

"It helps if you start hitting early, so to obviously keep the momentum going, it's not a bad thing at all," McDonald said.

With one game to play in the NSSAA regular season, the Titans are all but assured a second place finish. They'll likely face Delhi next week, a team they've split the season series with, dropping the latest edition on Tuesday at DDSS.

"We have a lot to work on, definitely," McDonald said. "If we let (Valley Heights) get almost 50 points against us, clearly we need help on our defence. We can't let them get that many points."

The Bears (4-6) will face top seeded Simcoe (9-0) in the semifinals. The purple and black are hoping to bring the positives from Thursday's game into SCS next week.

"Our defence got stronger as we went on, (forcing) more turnovers (and) more fast breaks," explained Rempel, who scored six Thursday. "(We'll) work on our defence some more, hands up, get low -- make sure they don't get those shots outside, that's been hurting us all year."

In other action, the Waterford Wolves got their first victory of the season, beating the Port Dover Lakers 46-43. Jeffery Paul had 17 for the Wolves, Dakotta Robinson scored 12 and Aaron Hall netted nine. Lakers point guard Tim Peters led his team with 17 points. Oli Carleton followed with 10.

The Simcoe Sabres and Delhi Raider played down to the wire at SCS. Simcoe was ahead by four with seconds remaining when Delhi's Justin Lichach hit a three to make it a one-point game. Simcoe was able to kill the clock after an inbound and foul to win 33-32. In the junior contest, the Raiders got the better of Simcoe, winning 36-33.

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