AAA CWOSSA: Friday's Junior Results

First Round
SJAM 49, Centennial 32
SJAM:  Dragan Stajic 13
CCVI:  Jimmy Omino 12

Cameron Hts. 51, North Park 34
CHCI:  Martin Gjorgiev 18
NPC:  G. Wilson 12

Centre Wellington 73, St. Mary's 64
CW:  Cole Newton 35
SMHS:  Michael Carali 13

Bluevale 64, Brantford CI 57
BlCI:  Michael Allen 24
BrCI:  Keaton Thorton 19

Second Round - QF's
SJAM 66, North Park 48
SJAM:  Filip Popovic 14
NPC:  D. John 17

Cameron Hts. 55, Centennial 45
CHCI:  Laurat Shehi 15
CCVI:  L. Omino 15

Brantford CI 69, Centre Wellington 60
BCI:  Keaton Thorton 27
CWDHS:  Cole Newton 23

St. Mary's vs. Bluevale

Semifinals - Saturday
SJAM vs. Brantford CI
Cameron Heights vs. SMHS/Bluevale 


 

AAA CWOSSA: Friday's Senior Results & Info

Update:  It's official!  The game many have been waiting for, SJAM vs. St. Benedict, will take place tomorrow (noon at SJAM) as one of the two senior boys' semifinals.

Here are today's results for the CWOSSA "AAA" Senior Boys' tournament.  The tournament format sees first-round winners play first-round losers in the second round:

First Round
SJAM 82, Centennial 48
SJAM:  Nedim Hodzic 20
CCVI:  Harman Goyal 15

WCI 49, North Park 46 (OT)
WCI:  Salim Bagabe/Anthoney Bell 12
NPC:  Matt Minutillo 15

St. Benedict 64, JF Ross 29
SBCSS:  Zubair Seyed 16
JFR:  Julian Rezetti 8

Forest Heights 51, St. John's 42
FHCI:  Manraj Jugpal 14
SJC:  Adrian Mendoza 13

Second Round - Quarterfinals
SJAM 62, North Park 29
SJAM:  Nedim Hodzic 24
NPC:  C. Hager 8

WCI 65, Centennial 29
WCI:  Sam Sutherland/Anthoney Bell 12
CCVI:  Tommy Nield 19

St. Benedict 89, St. John's 43
SBCSS:  Devante Douse 19
SJC:  Adrian Mendoza 16 

Forest Heights vs. JF Ross

Semifinals:  Saturday at SJAM
Noon:  SJAM vs. St. Benedict
1:30pm:  WCI vs. FHCI/JFR Winner 

CWOSSA "AAA": Predictions

I'm intrigued to see how things play out this weekend -- equally on the junior side (as the junior division has been one of the most competitive its been in years) as the senior.

Here are my "bracket selections":

Senior - 1st Round
SJAM over Centennial
WCI over North Park
St. Benedict over JF Ross
Forest Hts. over St. John's

Senior - 2nd Round
SJAM over North Park
WCI over Centennial
St. Benedict over St. John's
Forest Hts. over JF Ross

Senior - Semifinals
SJAM/SBCSS - coin flip!
WCI over Forest Heights

Senior Final:  SJAM/SBCSS Winner over WCI (I realize I took the easy way out....)

Junior - 1st Round
SJAM over Centennial
North Park over Cameron Hts.
St. Mary's over CWDHS
Bluevale over Brantford CI

2nd Round
SJAM over Cameron Hts.
North Park over Centennial
St. Mary's over Brantford CI
Bluevale over CWDHS

Semifinals
SJAM over St. Mary's
North Park over Bluevale

Junior Final:  SJAM over North Park

CWOSSA's "AAA" Senior Draw Leaves Lots To Be Desired

There -- I said it.

It's no secret (a quick scroll through Twitter will prove my point) that many people are not enamored with the set-up for this year's CWOSSA tournament.

With the elimination of the "AAAA" division, CWOSSA will have three tournaments this year (A, AA, and AAA).  The "AAA" tournament will go back to being an 8-team draw, as it was for many years.  Unfortunately, a few issues with the new set-up have come to light.

To recap, the draw is set up as follows:

WCSSAA #1 (SJAM) vs. D10 #2 (CCVI)
WCSSAA #3 (WCI) vs. D5 #1 (NPC)

D8 #1 (SBCSS) vs. D10 #1 (JFR)
WCSSAA #2 (FHCI) vs. D5 #2 (SJC)

For starters, with no "seeding", the two top-ranked teams would be on the same side of the draw should they win their opening games.

The SJAM Highlanders and the St. Benedict Saints have been the top two "AAA" teams throughout the 2015-16 season.  However, should both win their opening games (where both will be double-digit favourites), they would meet as early as the semifinals on Saturday.

This year, under the new AAA format, CWOSSA will receive only one OFSAA berth --- but could you imagine if this was a year where CWOSSA received two berths, and it was set up so that the two top-ranked teams would meet in one semifinal?  It doesn't make sense.

The draw itself is imbalanced, with arguably three of the top four teams on the same side of the draw.

With no disrespect intended to the bottom half of the draw --- JF Ross and FHCI have been playing well down the stretch, both having defeated Eastwood in the last couple of weeks --- if I were ranking the tournament, I would argue that 3 of the top 4 ranked teams would be on the top side of the draw.

(To keep myself off the hook, I'm referring to both SBCSS & SJAM as "#1" in my seeding):

1.  SJAM
1.  St. Benedict
3.  WCI
4.  North Park
5.  Forest Heights
6.  JF Ross
7.  Centennial
8.  St. John's

If all goes to form, your second round match-ups might look like this:

(1) SJAM vs. (4) North Park
(3) WCI vs. (7) Centennial

(1) St. Benedict vs. (8) St. John's
(5) Forest Heights vs. (6) JF Ross

....in other words, SJAM's reward for the excellent season may be a date with a very tough North Park team that only lost to the Highlanders by 3 points (59-56) this year, although to be fair, that was way back at the Heinbuch Tournament in November. 

Along with not being seeded, the draw does not account for year over year variations in league strength --- or other scenarios.  There should be six set "entrants" and two wild cards -- from any league.

When the AAA (and AAAA) tournaments used to be contested, there was always set teams that would qualify from each league --- say, 3 WCSSAA, 2 D10, 1 D8 and 1 D5.  The remaining two spots would be reserved for "wild card" teams, which are two deserving teams that were eliminated in their league playoffs prior to CWOSSA qualification.

Under the current format, there are no exceptions as to the qualifiers.  If the SJAM Highlanders decided to go out for a team meal before their quarterfinal game against Preston --- and a few of them got food poisoning and missed the game --- their season would be done.

Along with that, year over year variations in league strength are ignored.

I've told the story about how my Junior team at Bluevale (the year before I transferred to KCI) were undefeated WCSSAA champions.  Yet, we were the #5 seed, behind a wild-card team from Guelph.  In those days, Guelph and Brantford were far and away the class of CWOSSA.

This year, there are several talented teams that I've had ranked throughout the season sitting at home this weekend.  St. Mary's, Eastwood, Grand River and KCI are among the teams that would be "wild card worthy".

Wild card teams have also had historical success at the CWOSSA tournament.  In fact, St. Benedict was a #6 seed, and a wild-card entrant in 2003, when they went on a surprising run and finished 2nd in that tournament, qualifying for OFSAA for the first time in school history.

With 14 "AAA" teams, it's certainly more than fair that WCSSAA receive 3 automatic entrants to the CWOSSA tournament.  The other leagues (D8 - 3, D5 - 4, and D10 - 5) should, in my view, receive one each and there be two "wild card" entries.

-------

Now, I'm not posting this to diminish this year's tournament, as it should be quite exciting.  Heck, some of the above-described scenarios may not come into play should there be a first (or second-round) upset!

The fact of the matter is that the best team this weekend will win.  That said, as a region known for forward-thinking, we should look ahead to future tournaments, make them the best they can be, and avoid any issues or controversy.
 

AAA CWOSSA Tournament Set For This Weekend

A couple of thrilling one point "CWOSSA qualifying" games yesterday filled the field for the 2016 "AAA" CWOSSA championships, co-hosted by SJAM and Waterloo Collegiate.

WCI topped Eastwood on the Senior Side, 51-50, while Cameron Heights nipped Forest Heights by a 43-42 count in Junior.

Here are the first round draws for this weekend (full information and game-times can be found at CWOSSA.ca):

Junior
SJAM vs. Centennial
North Park vs. Cameron Hts.

St. Mary's vs. CWDHS
Brantford CI vs. Bluevale

Note:  First-round winners will play first-round losers ("OFSAA-style format") in the second round.

Senior
SJAM vs. Centennial
North Park vs. WCI

St. Benedict vs. JF Ross
St. John's vs. Forest Heights

Note:  First-round winners will play first-round losers ("OFSAA-style format") in the second round.

WCSSAA Finals: SJAM Goes "Back To Back"....X2.

For the second consecutive season, the SJAM Highlanders are on top of the WCSSAA basketball world, and there's no arguing it.

The 'Lander Junior and Senior Boys' Basketball teams took home both titles again yesterday, and also completed undefeated seasons in the process.  I'll have to do some digging, but I can't immediately recall a WCSSAA season where one school's teams went undefeated through the playoffs.

That said, yesterday's games were far from a walk in the park.

On the junior side, #3-seeded Bluevale used some hot early shooting to open up a double-digit lead (29-19) on SJAM before a 6-0 Highlander run cut things to 29-25 at the break.

After being tied at 38-all entering the fourth, another 6-point 'Lander surge pushed things to 49-43; they would go on to a 55-50 victory.

Dragan Stajic scored 18 to lead SJAM (and all scorers), while Chris Bullock and Maksim Koprivica added 13 each.  Gony Dak (13) and Michael Allen (12) were BCI's top scorers.

Senior - SJAM 54, Forest Hts. 49
The top-ranked SJAM Highlanders entered the senior final as prohibitive favourites, likely by double-digits as far as the imaginary "Vegas lines" would be concerned.

However, the Forest Heights Trojans, who had defeated the #3 KCI Raiders and #2 Eastwood Rebels (holding both to sub-40 point games) came out with confidence and certainly weren't intimidated by their first time on the big stage of the WCSSAA Finals.

SJAM led by only one point (14-13) after the opening frame before some Trojan foul trouble in the second quarter put SJAM into the bonus early --- they would take advantage to a degree, extending to a 29-23 lead at the intermission.

Simon Petrov had a strong second half, displaying a very strong mid-range game, that helped SJAM get a little more breathing room in the third; the 'Landers took their first double-digit lead of the game in the stanza before settling for a 41-32 lead after three.

The Trojans certainly had their chances in the fourth quarter, but just couldn't seem to get any closer than 6 points.  That said, when the 'Landers looked like they might put it out of reach, the Trojans always seemed to have an answer.

Jalen Nong hit a couple of big three-pointers in the final frame, including one with about 2:30 to go that cut the Trojan deficit to 7.

In the end, FHCI couldn't make any further inroads and both teams emptied their benches with just under a minute to go and a 9-point SJAM lead.  Forest Heights would score 4 points in the final :05 of the game (and "and-one" followed by a basket off of the missed free throw) to account for the game's final margin.

Petrov was impressive for SJAM, putting home 19 points while adding 10 rebounds.  Nedim Hodzic didn't quite get his usual double-double, settling for 8 rebounds alongside his 19 points.  The other "big-three" member, Justin Hardy, chipped in with 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Forest Heights used a 10-man rotation, and saw 8 players hit the scoresheet.  Rakesh Arjun led the way with a 12-point effort, while Manraj Jugpal scored 11 while adding 7 rebounds.

Amir Meftuh had 7, Jalen Nong 6, and Riley Anderson 5 off the bench for FHCI.

Both teams will advance to this weekend's CWOSSA "AAA" tournament, hosted at SJAM.

(Game Boxscore To Follow)

D8 Senior Final: Saints Top Eagles For School's First Title Since 2001

The fourth time was the charm.

For grade twelves on the St. Benedict CSS Senior Boys' basketball roster, this year marked the fourth consecutive year for them that they would have played the St. Mary's Eagles in the D8 Finals (Junior in 2013 & 14, Senior in 2015 & 16).

After being on the short end of the previous three encounters, the Saints are finally back on top of the D8 basketball world, winning the school's first Senior title since 2001.

It certainly didn't come as easily as the final 64-51 score might indicate, as it wasn't until the second half that St. Benedict was able to gradually pull away.

In fact, the Saints held a slim one-point lead after the opening frame, and led by five points late in the second quarter when the "TSN turning point" occurred.

St. Mary's had the ball, and were holding for the final shot of the frame when Adham Eleeda was called for an offensive foul as he began his drive to the basket with :06 left.

That set up.....this:

Buzzer Beater @ZubairSeyed pic.twitter.com/UyqiDa16o5

— Lucas Santos (@LucasJrSantos) February 20, 2016

As a result of that Zubair Seyed three-pointer, the Saints took a more comfortable 8-point lead into the locker room.

The Eagles didn't back down, cutting the lead down to 37-33 mid-way through the third quarter, but SMHS' momentum was stifled after Minas Abara picked up his fourth foul of the game, and had to exit.  St. Benedict went on a prompt 7-0 run keyed by five quick points from Justin Malnerich, to assume their first double-digit lead of the game at 44-33.

From that point on, the Saints were primarily in control -- the Eagles did threaten a bit late in the fourth quarter after a couple of SBCSS turnovers, and did have a three-point opportunity to get to within 5; however, that miss and a couple of excellent cuts for lay-ups on the part of the Saints put things away and secured their first D8 title in 15 years.

Devante Douse led the way for St. Benedict with a 22-point, 12-rebound performance; the Saints actually almost doubled up the undersized Eagles on the glass, holding a 38 to 20 rebounding edge.

Zubair Seyed had 20, doing most of his damage (17) in the first half.  Justin Malnerich added 11 points, while Evan Rodenburg had 6 points and 16 rebounds.  Alex Douglas rounded out the Saint scoring, with 5.

Following the win, star guard Zubair Seyed complemented the school and community support from East Galt, and was happy to have gotten the win, especially on home court.

"It's very big for our school and the name we are trying to put out to the young ones (in the community) who are moving up to high school basketball.  A lot of kids in the community look up to us, and as the alumni did for us, we're trying to make the way for them," he said.

"It was great to get that win in front of our friends and family out there, and that made it even more special," he said.

"Just seeing everyone so happy (for us) that we finally achieved one of our goals was a blessing."

Seyed agreed that his half-time buzzer beater was one of the biggest shots he's hit in his high school career.

"Definitely it was one of the biggest shots in my career; just have to thank God -- he's the one that put that one in for me."

On the St. Mary's side of things, Adham Eleeda had a solid effort, hitting a few deep (and tough) three-point looks en route to a 18 point, 11 rebound performance.  Heanok Abara had 11, Minas Abara scored 7, while Tyreak Farquharson (6), Kanayo Nnadi (3), Josh Maligaya (3) and Michael Alemu (2) rounded out the St. Mary's scoresheet.

St. Benedict will advance to the "AAA" CWOSSA championship to be contested this coming weekend in Waterloo.  The season is done for St. Mary's, who had advanced to the previous four OFSAA championships.

The Senior Game was the third in a "triple-header" on Friday evening at St. Benedict.  Earlier in the evening, the St. Mary's Eagles took home both midget & junior championships.

Samuel Kannah scored 16 points as the St. Mary's Eagles midgets (who are probably better than some CWOSSA junior teams) recorded a 63-29 win over Resurrection.  Jake Bilitz was the top scorer for the Phoenix, with 7.

On the junior side, the Eagles completed their perfect season and took home their 6th straight D8 title with a convincing 68-45 win over St. Benedict.  The game was tight early on, before a 17-0 St. Mary's run allowed them to take control.

The backcourt tandem of Ethan Passley (17) and Michael Carali (12) both had double digit efforts for the Eagles, while St. Benedict was led by Ben Mascarenhas, with 15.

Senior Boxscore
SMHS    14-15-10-12 = 51
SBCSS   15-22-15-12 = 64

St. Mary's
D. Nguyen    0-6 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
K. Nnadi      0-8 FG, 3-5 FT, 0 Reb, 3 Ast - 3 Pts.
A. Eleeda     7-13 FG, 1-2 FT, 11 Reb, 2 Ast - 18 Pts.
H. Abara      5-10 FG, 0-0 FT, 5 Reb, 0 Ast - 11 Pts.
M. Abara     2-5 FG, 2-2 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Ast - 7 Pts.
-----
Farquharson 2-5 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 6 Pts.
J. Maligaya  0-1 FG, 3-3 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
M. Alemu    1-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.

Field Goals:  17-50 (.340).  Free-Throws:  9-12 (.750).  Three-Point Goals:  7-26, .269 (A. Eleeda 3-4, T. Farquharson 2-4, H. Abara 1-3, M. Abara 1-4, J. Maligaya 0-1 M. Alemu 0-1, D. Nguyen 0-4, K. Nnadi 0-5).

St. Benedict
Z. Seyed       8-18 FG, 3-4 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Ast - 20 Pts.
J. Malnerich 4-10 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 11 Pts.
A. Douglas   2-4 FG 1-2 FT, 5 Reb, 0 Ast - 5 Pts.
D. Douse     10-18 FG, 2-6 FT, 12 Reb, 2 Ast - 22 Pts.
Rodenburg   3-7 FG, 0-0 FT, 16 Reb, 0 Ast - 6 Pts.
-----
M. Hajjo      0-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
C. Johnson   0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
M. Penaloza 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.

Field Goals:  27-60 (.450).  Free-Throws:  6-12 (.500).  Three-Point Goals:  4-11, .363 (J. Malnerich 3-7, Z. Seyed 1-3, M. Hajjo 0-1).

Championship Week Set To Tip: Who Are The Senior Favourites....And Darkhorses?

Starting tomorrow, within a week we'll know the champions in all four of the "power conferences" in CWOSSA (D5, D10, WCSSAA and D8).

The D5 (Brantford) league is already set for their best-of-three final, which will feature third-seeded St. John's and top-ranked North Park.

Here are my unscientific "probabilities" of teams taking home a title this coming week:

D5 - Brantford

North Park - 80%

St. John's - 20%

As a "best of three" affair in the D5 championship final, you would certainly think that the favourite would be at a further advantage given that the underdog has to win an extra game.

That said, over the years we've seen some interesting finals going the distance -- including a few that many observers thought might be over in two games.  

St. John's was impressive in their semifinal win over Assumption, and while I think it's clear that the Trojans have been the class of the league in Brantford, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Eagles take a game at the very least and make things interesting in Brant County.....again.

District 8

St. Benedict - 80%

St. Mary's - 12.5%

Resurrection - 5%

St. David - 2.5%

With semifinals on Wednesday, and the championship final set for Friday night, it's a quick turnaround for the victors of the two D8 semifinals.

Top-ranked St. Benedict, undefeated in league play, has the inside edge to hosting championship night on their home floor.  A win over St. David would secure that, and given that the Saints defeated the Celtics by 19+ points both times they met, they are certainly heavy favourites for that to occur.

The only reason I don't have the Saints as a "higher favourite" to take home the title is the nature of the D8's "one and done" playoff structure.  In essence, one off night could spell the end of a team's season.

Also, St. Mary's seems to be at their best with their backs against the wall -- many have discounted an Eagles group that has a lot of experience at the junior and senior levels in winning playoff games.

Resurrection has been playing well as of late, but having to win two games in three days on the road is certainly a tough task.

District 10

Bishop Mac - 85%

JF Ross - 10%

Other - 5%

Much like St. Benedict in the D8 league, the top-ranked Celtics have been untouchable through that league's regular schedule.

The closest margin of victory for the Celts during the regular schedule was 14 points (two times), so most are probably wondering who might have a chance of knocking off the favourites.

JF Ross, one of those teams who lost to BMAC by 14, seems like the most logical candidate as the second seed in the playoffs.  Furthermore, they may be peaking at the right time given their tournament success of late, which included a victory at the Brampton Notre Dame tournament and a win over WCSSAA #2 seed, Eastwood.

This may be one of the deeper D10 fields in recent memory, and I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the top six teams in the league make the finals, depending on how things all shake out.

WCSSAA

SJAM - 70%

Eastwood - 20%

Grand River/WCI Winner - 5%

Other Team - 5%

The undefeated SJAM Highlanders have certainly been the class of the WCSSAA league, and arguably CWOSSA (alongside St. Benedict), this season.

After topping Eastwood 55-44 in their regular season finale, the 'Landers will enter the WCSSAA playoffs with the #1 seed --- and arguably, a tougher path to the finals.

SJAM, assuming they win their QF game, would play the winner of two teams that are playing very well right now, the #4 Grand River Renegades and the #5 WCI Vikings.

I actually like the Rens as my "darkhorse" in the playoffs, but I think their extraordinarily tough schedule (WCI, probably SJAM then another difficult game in the finals) might just be too tough to overcome.

The two teams in the #3 vs. #6 matchup also are not to be overlooked in terms of making a deep playoff run.

Those who have been around WCSSAA basketball for some time know that it's unwise to bet against a Nick White coached KCI team come playoff time.  Furthermore, the Raiders have one of the better backcourts in WCSSAA, which is a huge point in their column.

FHCI, meanwhile, only lost to the Raiders by four during the regular season, and have a veteran roster that certainly won't want their season to end.  Personally, that KCI-FHCI game and the GRCI-WCI game are "must-watch" affairs tomorrow.

Anyways, like every year, don't be surprised to see an upset or two at any point along the road to the finals.

Good luck to all teams!

WCSSAA Final Standings: SJAM Basketball Clinches Perfect Season, Er, Seasons

24-0.

The SJAM Highlanders wrapped up perfect 12-0 seasons in WCSSAA Junior & Senior Boys' Basketball on Tuesday afternoon, with victories over Eastwood Collegiate in their regular season finales.

On the Senior side, the 'Landers took a 55-44 decision over the Rebels, with Nedim Hodzic leading SJAM with 18.  Layee Jabateh had 18 for the Rebs in defeat.

Filip Popovic had 16 for the Junior 'Landers in their 52-38 win.  Trev Lewis led ECI with 10.

So, your final SENIOR standings, including tiebreaks, are as follows:

(Please note this is unofficial until confirmed by league sources)

1.  SJAM 12-0
2.  Eastwood 11-1 (via common opponents over KCI)
3.  KCI 11-1
4.  Grand River 10-2
5.  WCI 9-3
6.  Forest Hts. 8-4 (H2H over CHCI)
7.  Cameron Hts. 8-4
8.  Glenview Park 6-6
9.  Preston 5-7
10.  Huron Hts. 4-8
11.  Bluevale 4-8
12.  Jacob Hespeler 4-8
---
13.  Galt 2-10
T14.  Elmira 1-11
T14.  Southwood 1-11
16.  WODSS 0-12

Qualifying Round Playoff Games
(12) Jacob Hespeler at (5) WCI
(11) Bluevale at (6) Forest Hts.
(10) Huron Hts. at (7) Cameron Hts.
(9) Preston at (8) Glenview Park

Byes:  (1) SJAM, (2) ECI, (3) KCI, (4) GRCI

And for Junior....
1.  SJAM 12-0
2.  Forest Heights 11-1
3.  Bluevale 10-2
4.  Eastwood 9-3 (Common Opponent Tiebreak)
5.  Cameron Hts. 9-3
6.  Grand River 8-4
7.  Huron Hts. 7-5
8.  Jacob Hespeler 6-6 (H2H over KCI)
9.  KCI 6-6 
10.  Preston 5-7
11.  Glenview Park 3-9 (H2H over WCI)
12.  WCI 3-9 
---
T13.  WODSS 2-10
T13.  Galt 2-10
T13.  Southwood 2-10
16.  Elmira 1-11

Junior Qualifying Games are:
(12) WCI at (5) Cameron Hts.
(11) Glenview Park at (6) Grand River
(10) Preston at (7) Huron Hts.
(9) KCI at (8) Jacob Hespeler

Byes:  (1) SJAM, (2) FHCI, (3) BCI, (4) ECI

Successful Weekend For CWOSSA Teams In Tourneys

Fresh off of the exam break, it was a pretty successful weekend for CWOSSA teams at a variety of tournaments.  Here's a look at some of the action:

Grand River Wins Wayne Nugent Classic
Out at Woodbridge College, the Grand River Renegades took the 8th Annual Wayne Nugent Classic, winning 4 games en route to the tournament crown.

On Friday, the Rens defeated Cardinal McGuigan (47-39) backed by 17 points from Miro Iliev.  Iliev chipped in with 16 in their later win, a 76-37 decision over Ottawa Lisgar.

This advanced GRCI to the semifinals, where they took out St. Andrew's College (Aurora) 63-56.  Iliev had another big effort, pouring in 28 points in that one.

Waday Hamad paced the Rens in the championship final, scoring 19 points as the Rens toppled Bayview SS (Richmond Hill) 70-53.

Hamad was named to the tournament's all-star team, while Iliev was selected as the Tournament MVP. 

SJAM Cruises at Tony Marcotullio Invitational
The SJAM Highlanders did some resume building this past weekend with four double digit wins down in London at the Tony Marcotullio Invitational, to take home that tourney title.

The 'Landers eased past London St. Thomas Aquinas 65-47, before knocking off London's Clarke Road, 71-35.  Nedim Hodzic put home 25 points and 7 rebounds in the opener, and followed that up with 27 points in the second game.  Simon Petrov was in the vicinity of triple-double territory against CR, posting a 7 point, 11 rebound, 9 assist stat line.

In the semifinals, SJAM defeated Windsor Catholic Central by a 63-49 count, with Hodzic going off for 32 points and 8 rebounds.  Petrov also hit for 20 points in that one.

The tournament final was against London's HB Beal, and SJAM had their way in a 71-50 victory.  Hodzic had a 16-16 (point/rebound) stat line, while Petrov added 18 and Justin Hardy notched 16.

Hodzic and Hardy were named to the tournament's all-star team.

Rez Places Second at Suzuki (Brampton)
The Resurrection Phoenix came 2nd in the 16-team "Call of the Wild" Tournament hosted by the school my wife teaches at, David Suzuki SS in Brampton.

(The picture is my son Hudson courtside checking out the home-court Grizzlies during warmups).

The Phoenix knocked off Louise Arbour (Brampton) 74-62, Mayfield (Brampton) 57-51, and then rallied from a double-digit second half deficit against host David Suzuki to win 59-58, thanks in part to a late-game three-pointer from Ali Rashid. 

In the tournament final, Rez was on the opposite end of a run as an 8-point advantage against Brampton's Cardinal Ambrozic evaporated during an 18-0 third quarter run; the Riverhawks would go on to a 73-59 victory and the tournament championship.

Muyang Iluya was an offensive force for Rez over the weekend, scoring 29, 20, 15 and 27 points in the four games; he was named as a first-team tournament all-star.

JF Ross Tops ECI; Takes Burlington Title
The JF Ross Royals always seem to peak come playoff time, and this season may be no exception.  The Royals took a 54-51 upset decision over Eastwood CI in the semifinals of the Burlington Notre Dame tournament, before defeating MM Robinson (Burlington) by about 15 points in the championship final.

Scoring details weren't immediately available.

D8 Senior: Eagles Lock up 2nd Overall Spot

Adham Eleeda scored 21 points as the St. Mary's Eagles clinched sole possession of second place in the D8 Senior standings with a 67-61 victory over St. David on Monday afternoon.

Mitch Lavigne had a game-high 25 points for the Celts, who will finish 4th in the D8 circuit as a result of Resurrection's 49-37 win over Monsignor Doyle on Monday.  

Muyang Iluya (21) and Ali Rashid (10) paced the Phoenix, while Sohrob Sultani had 9 for the 'Stangs.

As such, the final D8 Standings are as follows:
1.  St. Benedict 11-0
2.  St. Mary's 7-4
3.  Resurrection 6-5
4.  St. David 6-5
5.  Mons. Doyle 5-6

B1.  Rockway 6-5
B2.  PRDG 2-9
B3.  Woodland 1-10

And, the playoff picture starts on Wednesday with the following matchups:
(B1) Rockway at (A3) Resurrection
(A5) Mons. Doyle at (A4) St. David

St. Benedict and St. Mary's will have first-round byes; SBCSS will play the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals on February 17th.

Junior
On the junior side, the St. Mary's Eagles finished undefeated at 10-0, followed by St. Benedict and Resurrection at 7-3.  The Saints will be awarded 2nd based upon the +/- tiebreaker over Resurrection.

Monsignor Doyle finished 4th in the "A" Division with a 4-6 record, while the St. David Celtics were 5th at 2-8.

Two teams were in the "B" Division -- Rockway finished 2-6, while Woodland was 1-7.

Therefore, QF games are as follows:
(B1) Rockway at (A3) Resurrection
(A5) St. David at (A4) Monsignor Doyle