Klassen Paces Centaurs To Semifinals in U19 D7

A hot-shooting Josh Klassen (Kitchener Rockway) poured in 30 points as the Cambridge Centaurs survived a hard-fought 71-63 game against the East Side City Warriors (out of the Oshawa area) on Saturday afternoon at Preston High School.

Things didn't start so smoothly for the Centaurs, as they surrendered the first 9 points of the game before rebounding to close the first quarter down 15-10.

Klassen would get hot in the second as he hit a couple of quick threes to give the Centaurs the lead.  They would close the quarter by having Tyrone Tyndale (St. Benedict) get an "and-one" --- though he missed the free throw he managed to get his own rebound and put that in for the four point possession and help the Centaurs take a 31-25 lead into halftime.

The Centaurs couldn't pull away in the second half, extending their lead to 13 points (56-43) on a three-pointer from former MDCSS star Josh Loehle with 6:00 to play but the Warriors would get as close as 6 points down the stretch before clutch free throw shooting from Klassen and Josh Fabe (Paris DHS) helped the Centaurs close it out.

Klassen's 30 points included a 6-for-11 showing behind the arc.  Accounting for the rest of Cambridge's points were Tyndale with 12, Fabe (9), Galt's Nic Bradford (9), Loehle (7), Mark Saris (2) and Kieran Senior (2).

With the win, the Centaurs have clinched a semifinal berth.  A win in their 6pm game tonight against the Sudbury JAM (1-1) would give them first place, while with a loss they would settle for second.

Here's a look at the Centaurs boxscore:

Cambridge    10-21-18-22 = 71

East Side      15-10-14-24 = 63

Cambridge Centaurs

M. Stotesbury  0-4 FG, 0-4 FT, 2 Reb, 3 Ast - 0 Pts.

J. Fabe            1-4 FG, 7-10 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 9 Pts.

T. Tyndale       6-9 FG, 0-1 FT, 2 Reb, 3 Ast - 12 Pts.

N. Bradford    3-5 FG, 2-3 FT, 8 Reb, 0 Ast - 9 Pts.

J. Loehle         3-11 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 3 Ast - 7 Pts.

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J. Klassen       9-17 FG, 6-6 FT, 4 Reb, 0 Ast - 30 Pts.

D. Strickland   0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.

M. Saris          1-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.

T. Bartley        0-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.

K. Senior        0-1 FG, 2-2 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.

C. Langille       0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.

J. Parsons        0-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.

Field Goals:  23-58 (.397).  Free-Throws:  17-26 (.654).  Three-Point Goals, 8-21 (.381):  J. Klassen 6-11, N. Bradford 1-1, J. Loehle 1-5, T. Barley 0-1, M. Stotesbury 0-1, J. Fabe 0-1, J. Parsons 0-1.  Steals:  12 (J. Klassen 3, T. Tyndale 2, M. Saris 2, M. Stotesbury, J. Fabe, J. Loehle, J. Parsons, C. Langille).  Blocked Shots:  4 (N. Bradford, T. Bartley, J. Klassen, M. Saris).