Article By: Darryl Smart
It wasn't the story many high school basketball fans thought they'd be reading, except if you're a Jacob Hespeler Hawks supporter.
Thanks to a 32-point effort by point guard Javon Bryce, the No. 3 Hawks upset the two-time defending CWOSSA AAA senior boys basketball champs and No. 2 North Park Collegiate Trojans 64-62 in the semifinal Monday.
"It's safe to say we're all really disappointed right now," Trojans veteran Marcus Hamilton said. "Losing is never a good feeling."
And the way the Trojans lost their first game on home turf in over three years was even more heart wrenching.
Despite missing six easy layups, the Trojans dominated down low and built up a 13-10 first quarter lead.
But then it became the Bryce show, as the slick-moving Hawks point guard poured in 10 second-quarter points, including an emphatic dunk that seemed to swing all of the momentum their way.
"Their point guard put the team on his shoulders and carried them," Trojans coach Todd Andrew said. "You can't take anything away from them. They played a good game."
Although the Hawks had all of the momentum and a 30-21 lead at the half, the Trojans came out of the break with purpose and showed why they've won this championship the last two seasons.
A Hamilton three-pointer, followed by a Marcus Jones steal to A.K. Rai, who went in for the layup, and then a Logan Varga jumper after another Hawks turnover all but erased the deficit in the first two minutes of the second quarter.
Once the Trojans had the lead, Bryce again took over and made the defending champs pay for several costly turnovers and the Trojans inability to hit easy shots in the fourth quarter. Bryce poured in 16 points in the final quarter to help punch his team's ticket into Monday's final against Galt Collegiate, who upset the No. 1 seeded Centre Dufferin 62-49 in the other semi earlier Monday.
"We made shots early but weren't able to make them late," Hamilton, who led all Trojans scorers with 22 points. "(Marcus) Jones did a great job defending him (Bryce). He had one of those games where everything was going in. That's the way it goes sometimes. They just had a better game than us."
Despite the loss and obvious disappointment, Andrew said his players have nothing to be ashamed of.
"Of course they're disappointed right now, but they have a lot to be proud of," Andrew said. "Winning three-straight BCSSAA titles and two CWOSSA championships in a row is a real accomplishment. Not a lot of teams can say they set going to OFSAA as a realistic goal every year and we've been able to do that."
Andrew also said how proud he is of how the players on the team have grown, especially Hamilton and
Varga, the two players who have been with the team for the incredible three-year run.
"I understand why Marcus and Logan would be so disappointed right now," Andrew said.
"But as a coach, to see guys like that grow from young boys with good athletic ability to great young men and basketball players is great to see. Win or lose, it's always nice to see a group like this get the opportunities they've had and grow as people and basketball players."
In the gold medal game, Jacob Hespeler beat Galt Collegiate 53-52.
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