Article By: Darryl Smart
The North Park Collegiate Trojans almost played the role of giant killer Monday night during the CWOSSA junior boys AAA basketball final.
Playing in front of a home crowd, the No. 3 Trojans, fresh off a huge 55-36 semifinal win earlier in the day over No. 2 St. David's of Waterloo, almost pulled another upset out of their hats.
Unfortunately for the host team, the No. 1 St. James Catholic High School Lions rallied in the fourth quarter to win the CWOSSA title with a 52-43 win.
"Of course, we're all a little disappointed but we're all really proud of how we played," Trojans Matt Minutillo said. "We worked really hard and had a great tournament. Unfortunately we fell behind at the wrong time and couldn't come back."
After going toe-to-toe with the No. 1 seed and playing to a 14-14 tie after one quarter, the Trojans surged to a 25-21 halftime lead.
But the high-powered Lions stormed back to take a 35-32 lead after three quarters and held on to it despite several runs by the Trojans.
"Coach told us the whole tournament to force as many turnovers as we can and they'll turn into easy offence," Minutillo said. "We were able to do that against them and it kept us in the game. Unfortunately we turned the ball over a couple of times and they took advantage of that to pull away."
Minutillo, who led the Trojans scoring 15 points, said the energy from the bench and the home crowd really helped them throughout their improbable voyage to the final.
"They really got us pumped and gave us that extra boost," Minutillo said. "It helped us get the momentum, especially in the final."
Coach Gord Petersen said that, despite a couple of turnovers, he couldn't be happier with the way his team played.
"It's unfortunate that we didn't protect the ball as much as we should have but the kids worked hard," Petersen said. "This is a team (St. James) that beat us by 29 earlier in the season. We played well and almost pulled it out. The score certainly wasn't an indication of how close the score was."
To get to the final, Trojans exercised some demons in defeating St. David's - a team they lost twice this season during tournament play - in the semifinal, and outlasted Huron Heights in double overtime during the preliminary game.
"The double overtime really gave us a lot of confidence," Minutillo said. "It was a great start to the tournament for us."
The Grade 9 student said it really set a tone for their semifinal date with St. David's.
"They were a team we lost to a couple of times and we really played hard," Minutillo said. "It was a great feeling to beat them and gave us a lot of confidence heading into the final."
With the loss, Minutillo, who is one of only two returning next season is already looking forward to the task at hand.
"We'll have a good team next year and try and take another run at it," Minutillo said. "We learned a lot from this season."
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