WCSSAA Senior Semifinals - Previews

As mentioned yesterday, the game times have been flipped to accomodate CHCI fans --- who will get the 5:00pm junior game and 6:30pm senior game back to back. KCI/BCI will be the nightcap at 8:00pm.

#6 Cameron Heights vs. #2 SJAM

Firstly, throw those rankings out the window. They don't mean anything today, especially with this game being played on the Gaels' home floor.

Secondly, this game is absolutely huge. The winner will get an AAAA CWOSSA berth, while the loser's season is over. How's that for motivation?

Many in attendance might be hoping for a repeat of these teams' regular season effort, a 58-56 SJAM thriller way back on December 3rd.

In that contest, Jake Robinet poured in 27 points in the victory; the Highlanders also "held" Stefan Arezina & Nebojsa Djeric to 36 combined points.

Needless to say, the latter will again be key. Arezina went off for 27 against WCI on Thursday, and the Highlanders can't let him get going.

SJAM has received great performances this year from Edem Ame, Ben Reyhani, and (at times) Kwame Botchway and Matthias Hamm. They have several guys that can hurt you in a couple of different ways.

Cameron Heights Projected Starting 5: Nebojsa Djeric G/F, Stefan Arezina G, Amjed Osman G, Stefan Cucak F, Adnan Shah G.

SJAM Projected Starting 5: Jake Robinet F, Edem Ame F, Matthias Hamm F, Kwame Botchway G, Ben Reyhani G.

I'll give SJAM the edge here, but the Gaels are coming on. CHCI winning wouldn't be an "upset" in my eyes.

Projection: SJAM 66, Cameron Heights 62


#4 Kitchener CI vs. #1 Bluevale

Who do I cheer for here? I went to Bluevale for a couple years before moving over to KCI......

All kidding aside, the Bluevale Knights are absolutely on fire. They've been playing some great basketball down the stretch in February, a month that started with a near upset of Ajax Pickering HS, one of the top schools in the province.

The Raiders appear to be in trouble on paper here. Who's going to match up with Andrew Beney? Who is going to matchup with Stefan Cvrkalj? All signs point to Beney and Drew Balak having a field day on the offensive glass here against an undersized KCI squad.

That said, Nick White always seems to get the most out of his players. They may be undersized but they'll give their all. Last year, they were able to upset a much more talented Bluevale squad in the semifinals, so you know that the Knights have payback on their minds today.

KCI Projected Starting 5: Arben Kalaba G, Darnell Simpson F, Graham Notar G, Dan Weber F, Tristan Ruddock F.

Bluevale Projected Starting 5: Stefan Cvrkalj G, Andrew Beney C, Karsten Beney G, Fraser Voll G, Drew Balak F.

Knights get it done here and give themselves the chance to win the first WCSSAA basketball title for Bluevale since my junior boys' squad won the crown a little over a decade ago.

Projection: Bluevale 66, KCI 51