The top-seeded St. Mary's Eagles had no trouble advancing through to the championship game in D8 junior and senior boys' semifinal action on Wednesday afternoon.
Things weren't quite so straightforward for the #2 seeds in each respective league (RCSS - Sr., SDCSS - Jr.), however.
SMHS Juniors, Seniors Cruise
For starters, the senior Eagles dominated from start to finish in an 89-27 demolition of St. David. Reserves Eric Duong (14) and Jeremy Cresswell (11) led the way for Mary's, while Matt Murawsky had 6 for the Celts.
The junior Eagles also had a solid performance in the back-end of the doubleheader at SMHS, defeating #4 St. Benedict 51-21. Jamari Stephenson (11), Mike Blumel (8) and Nathan Riley (8) were the Eagle top performers, while Aaron Zammit had 5 and Bobby Gill 4 for the Saints.
SBCSS Seniors Put Scare Into Rez
The St. Benedict Saints secured an early lead (7-4 after one and 17-16 at halftime) and were able to bleed away valuable time on offense as they were nearly able to pull off a big upset in senior boys' basketball against the shorthanded Phoenix, who were missing starting forward Cam Gibbs (injury) and reserve guard Jamie Keil (illness).
However, guard Mark Radcliffe nailed a deep three for Rez at the end of the third quarter to turn the tide and help give Rez momentum heading to the fourth, where they would eventually secure the 36-31 victory.
Mike Pereira led RCSS with 13, while Tyler Schneider had 9. Santo Dak and Kueth Geng netted 11 each for the Saints.
Lalor Keys Junior Celtic Rally
In a junior semifinal that was delayed for an hour due to the WCSSAA wrestling championships, the Resurrection Phoenix were nearly able to "wrestle" a big upset win away from the favoured (#2 seed) St. David Celtics.
[Sidenote - it wasn't the first interesting scheduling occurrence the day of a Rez/St. David semifinal game. The 2010 girls' D8 semifinal was a crazy story, for those who remember]
[Sidenote - it wasn't the first interesting scheduling occurrence the day of a Rez/St. David semifinal game. The 2010 girls' D8 semifinal was a crazy story, for those who remember]
After an 18-15 halftime score, Rez maintained contact through the 3rd quarter and a Jack Quirke lay-in for Rez at the buzzer cut things down to one (30-29) entering the fourth. Rez would actually take the lead (32-31 - 6:30 left) before Dashaun Lalor made several tough baskets to key an 8-0 St. David run and put them back up 7.
Rez wasn't quite done yet, as another late rally got them back within 2 and about 3:30 to play. The Phoenix trailed by 4 with just over a minute to play and had to resort to the "foul game", but the youthful Celtics were unfazed at the foul line and went 7-for-8 down the stretch to finish up with a 49-40 victory.
Lalor finished with a game-high 21 for St. David, while George Dumitru was also in double-figures with 11. Andrew Pickett and Mark Wylie both had 10 each for Rez.
D8 Finals Schedule - Friday, February 17th
6pm - St. Mary's vs. St. David
8pm - St. Mary's vs. Resurrection
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