Orillia Blackball Article

Fogarty nets bronze
Posted By STEPHEN SWEET, SPECIAL TO THE PACKET AND TIMES
Posted 11 hours ago

Retrieved from: http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2300337

The 66th annual Orillia High School Boys Blackball Basketball Tournament was another success this past weekend.

It was an exciting event, filled with great play, sportsmanship, and even a local consolation champion.

"With all of the different schools working together, things were running really smoothly all weekend," said April Davidson, convenor of the tournament.

"Seeing all of the competition between the teams was fantastic."

Some of the successful competitors included the junior Patrick Fogarty Flames, who won the bronze medal with a 49-40 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas high school.

"I'm really excited for the boys," said Flames head coach Brad MacNeil.

"We won three games in a row to get the bronze, so I'm really happy for them."

Josh Snider led the Flames offensively as the squad had to deal with some adversity. "We were short a couple of guys," MacNeil said. "We had a number of key injuries over the weekend, so a lot of guys had to step up."

The lone loss for Patrick Fogarty was to the Barrie Central Phoenix in the tournament opener, a team that wouldn't lose until the junior finals, at the hands of the Bishop Macdonell Celtics from Guelph.

In the junior championship game, Central went into the half ahead, 41-26, but a furious last two quarters, opened up by a 13- 0 Celtics run, led the Guelph school to the title with a 68-62 victory.

"These guys are resilient," said Celtics head coach Gabriel Frank.

"We went in at half-time and told them not to panic.

"We've gone out before and beaten teams by 25 or 30 points in a half, so they just needed to go out and do that again. We've got a great group of kids here."

Mitchell Wood led Bishop Macdonell with a team-high 18 points. Ben Morris, the game's most valuable player, had 14. Andre Lambert knocked in 21 for Barrie Central.

The senior final was contested between the Governor Simcoe Redcoats from St. Catharines and Midland's St. Theresa's Thunder.

In a close game, the teams traded baskets throughout an energetic second half before the Redcoats pulled out the title by an 84-76 score, despite only having eight players dressed.

"I used to play six, seven, or eight guys in a rotation, but a couple of the guys I normally give minutes to weren't here," Grantis said.

"It meant some of the guys who normally don't play much had to step up, and they did a great job."

Both sides put on a show for the fans. During a 36-second stretch in the third quarter, the teams hit a combined five consecutive three-pointers without any misses.

Carlos Williams, the game's most valuable player, put home 24 points for the winners. St. Theresa's Peter Dupuis led the Midland squad with 19.

That Redcoats squad, having lost in the finals in their last two years, was happy to lift the Blackball trophy.

"We love coming up here," Grantis said. "We're not used to the cold, but the kids always enjoy coming up here and the opportunity to play some good games whenever we come up here is great."

The local senior squads did not make the finals.

Park Street and Patrick Fogarty each dropped all three decisions over the weekend, while Twin Lakes lost both of their games. Orillia District had the lone local wins for the Grade 11 and 12's, as they defeated both Peterborough and St. Thomas Aquinas to go 2- 1.

For the juniors, it was a better story.

Twin Lakes nearly made the finals in their home gym, but lost to Central. Victories over Manitoulin and Lasalle gave them a weekend winning record, though.

Both ODCVI and Park Street fell in their first two games, but in a head-to-head showdown, the Blues came out on top to salvage the weekend.