Article By: Darryl Smart
It may have been a long week for J.P. Yurcich and the St. John's College Green Eagles but it may have been the perfect way to finish off the senior boys' basketball regular season.
Especially since they'll have more than two weeks off.
Tim Dawson poured in 20 points, while Yurcich added 19, as the Green Eagles (8-2) finished the regular season with a 58-39 win over the Paris Panthers (3-7) Thursday at home.
"It's been a long week for us," Yurcich said. "It's been tough."
He said playing three games to close out the regular season before the exam break was difficult because of the highs and lows that came with each one.
After an emotional loss against the first-place North Park Collegiate Trojans Monday, they defeated the surging Assumption College Lions Tuesday before deposing of the Panthers Thursday.
"Monday's game was so emotional," Yurcich said. "It always is with North Park because it's one versus two. And then we had to get up to play Assumption right after which was tough to do.
And against the Panthers, mental and physical was evident early.
"Our second half was much better tonight," he said. "We've seemed to have a tough time getting started, but when we do, things start to click."
After the Panthers, who were riding a two-game winning streak, jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead, it took the Green Eagles almost six minutes before they finally got back on the scoreboard.
And once they did, there was no looking back.
During the last two minutes of the first quarter, the Green Eagles generated four Panthers' turnovers, resulting in a 11-9 lead after the first quarter.
"Our first half was slow but the guys picked it up," Yurcich said. "It was a good way to end the regular season, with the exception of a couple of guys getting banged up. But we'll have a couple of weeks off to heal and get ready for the playoffs."
With their 8-2 record, the Green Eagles and the Trojans earned a first-round bye, while Brantford Collegiate, Pauline Johnson Collegiate, Assumption and Paris will duke it out in the quarter-finals on Feb. 7.
Yurcich said during the exam break, his team will attempt to get as much court time as possible with shoot arounds.
The same goes for the Panthers, but with a different focus.
"We're going to work on running," Panthers' Taylor Shipp said. "We want to go four quarters, not like tonight.
"We stayed with them for three quarters," he said. "We were playing some of our best basketball of the year."
Shipp again was a presence down low for the Panthers and said the game had the feel of a playoff game. And that was evident by the ice bags on Green Eagles players bench and players getting emotional on the Panthers' bench.
"The first three quarters felt like it," Shipp, who had four points said. "It was a real physical game."
Jake Kelley led the Panthers with nine points, while Parker McIntyre had eight, while Andrew Kearley and Harji Gill added six each.
Thursday's Results
SENIOR
NPC (10-0) 40, ACS (3-7) 33. NPC: Logan Varga 13, Marcus Jones 11, Marcus Hamilton 9. ACS: Stefan Toic 18, Nick Burdett 9, Nolan Drong 5.
BCI (4-6) 44, PJC (2-8) 37 (2OT). BCI: Chris Gorski 15, Kolby Sakuluk 9, Ben Candy 7. PJC: Tyler Campbell 14, Dakotta Robinson 7, Dakota Brush 6.
JUNIOR
SJC (9-1) 70, Paris (0-10) 24. SJC: David Smith 15, Lukas Hager 12, Dylan Ryan 12. Paris: Ryan Campbell 14, Corey Boehmer 9.
NPC (9-1) 56, ACS (6-4) 44. NPC: Andrew Silla 14, Matt Minutillo 11, A.K. Rai 11. ACS: Alvaro Saluta 13, Mike King 8, Austin Tlustos 8.
BCI (4-6) 47, PJC (2-8) 30. BCI: Tristan Almas 17, Noel Bomberry 14, Jamaal Jones-Peters 6. PJC: Swapnil Sharma 9, DJ Johnson 9, Scott Sobczyck 5, Justin Appleby 5.
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