KITCHENER — The Resurrection Phoenix are expected to be a very good basketball team.
It’s just going to take a bit of time to get there.
With only a handful of practices and one exhibition game in the books, the Phoenix are one of four local teams entered in the 27th annual Heinbuch Classic tournament that opens Thursday and wraps up Saturday at St. Mary’s and Huron Heights.
The Phoenix get their first taste of Heinbuch action on Thursday night (7:45 p.m.) against Toronto Northern at St. Mary’s. They’ll open their District 8 schedule against the St. David Celtics on Monday.
“We’re going to be good,” said Phoenix head coach Tom Schneider. “We’ve got a great group of guys that are returning from last year’s team and this is basically the junior team that won CWOSSA (Central Western Ontario) two years ago as Grade 10s.
“So I have a very positive feeling about the season, but nothing is for sure, right?”
The Phoenix have two returning starters from the team that won the District 8 championship last season – league MVP Andrew Mwangi and all-star Tyler Schneider.
Mwangi, a six-foot four guard/forward, and Schneider, a six-foot-one guard, will be joined in the starting lineup by Cam Gibbs (6’3”, F), Mike Pereira (6’4”, F) and Jeff Rodrigues (5’10”, G).
John Moi (5’10” G) will see plenty of floor time while big things are expected of rookie Cory Kenning (6’5’’ centre).
Schneider and Rodrigues — along with Jason Chris and Stephen Cordle — were on the Phoenix football team that fell to the WCI Vikings last Wednesday. Those four have only been working out with the hoops squad since Thursday. Rez’s lone exhibition game was on Tuesday night when it recorded a two-point win over the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders.
The lack of prep time would explain why Schneider is simply hoping for a solid effort at the Heinbuch. He said it won’t be the end of the world if the results are poor “because I know that’s not my true team yet.”
“For the Heinbuch, I want to see a great effort and for us to continue to gel as a team.”
The St. Mary’s Eagles, Bluevale Knights and SJAM are the three other local entries in the Heinbuch.
The Knights will be without star player Stefan Cvrkalj, who is out with a knee injury
Defending champion Toronto Oakwood is back to defend the Heinbuch title it won over Hamilton St. Thomas More in last year’s title game.
The prestigious tournament is named in honour of Court Heinbuch, a former Cameron Heights Golden Gaels head coach who died of a heart attack on Feb. 12, 1985.
The tournament operated as an eight-team event from 1984 to 1987 before expanding to its current format in 1988.
Toronto Runnymeade has won the tournament six times, while Hamilton Cathedral, Ajax Pickering, Scarborough Mother Teresa and Toronto Oakwood have won it twice. No local team has ever won the tournament.
J. Clarke Richardson and Oakville Loyola are being touted as pre-tournament favourites. The two met in the final of the Pinky Lewis tournament at Hamilton last weekend, with Richardson scoring a 70-61 win.
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