Lourdes rally for win while Centre Wellington advance on a time mix-up and technical foul
Article By: Rob Massey
GUELPH — There’ll be a new District 10 high school senior boys’ basketball champion crowned Friday night at the Mitchell Athletics Centre.
The Lourdes Crusaders and Centre Wellington Falcons, two teams that have never won the title, will meet after both posted close semifinal victories Wednesday.
Lourdes rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Centennial Spartans 49-40 while the Falcons hit a pair of free throws awarded for a technical foul on the defending champion Ross Royals with four seconds to go for a 58-56 win.
“It was unbelievable,” Centre Wellington coach Jeff Brubacher said.
The technical foul was awarded when a Ross player raced onto the floor, presumably to celebrate a victory after the Royals had battled back from a 20-point deficit to take the lead in the dying seconds. However, the game was not over and a foul was called.
“That gave us the chance to go to the line and shoot,” Brubacher said.
The Falcons held a 50-30 lead early in the third quarter before Ross started a rally that included a run of 19 consecutive points.
“We knew the push was coming for sure,” Brubacher said. “In fact, it was a huge push that brought them right back into the game.”
Reid Goindi finished with a game-high 23 points for Centre Wellington, including the winning free throws. He hit 10-of-11 from the foul line. Terry Francis had 13 points.
For Ross, Shamlo Saeed had 14 points while Mike Friesen and Trey Larue added 10 apiece.
“We hoped that we could have played with Ross, they are so deep and very talented,” Brubacher said. “We wanted to keep it as low scoring as we possibly could knowing that a game in the high 60s, 70s with Ross is not going to work for us. That was our game plan going in.”
At Lourdes, the Crusaders led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter and 21-16 at the half before the Spartans rallied to go up 28-26 by the end of the third quarter. However, Lourdes came back in the fourth for the win.
“It was pretty close heading in (to the fourth quarter), so there was a little bit of concern but we knew if we held it together, we could close out the game,” Lourdes’ captain and leading scorer Mike Finoro said. He connected for 14 points in the final quarter to finish with a game-high 16.
“We came out really strong defensively in the first half, but we knew that they would make a run coming out in the second (half),” Lourdes coach Scott Robinson said. “They always compete hard. We just knew we were a deeper team and had more weapons than they had and if we just stuck to the plan, even when they made their run, and just sustained it, we would be fine down the stretch. That’s what we did.”
The only concern Robinson was if his team trailed in the final minute or two of the fourth quarter.
“I’ll tell you what I was worried about – if they got up by a couple of possessions late in the game, I was going to see their stall offence and we were going to have to start fouling,” he said. “The way the foul situation was in the second half, it wouldn’t have put us in a good position.I think, overall, because we have such a great group of athletes, our athleticism and some of our endurance allowed us to really compete hard at the end.”
Jordan Trimble and Maximillian Raab each had nine points for Lourdes while Liam O’Regan and Ben King collected five apiece. Sharieff Peru had three and Anthony Joaquim added two.
Centennial received 12 from Alex Kaludjerovic, 11 from Tarang Sharma, six each from Harman Grewal and Ed Gray and five from Erik Sterne.
The close semifinals point out the parity in the league this season as any of the four could be competing in the final.
“We know going into any game, even outside the top four but for sure the top four, going into any game against the top four we know it’s going to be a tough game,” Finoro said. “You’ve just got to come ready to play, especially playoff time.”
Friday’s final will be the first of the 2000s that doesn’t involve either Ross or Centennial. Game time is 8 p.m.
D10 Jr. Boys Basketball - Semis
Ross 71 Lourdes 51
Mo Hussien led Ross with 21 points while Andrew Folkerson netted 20. Craig Valeriote had 17 for Lourdes while David Khayipangi followed with 13. Ross will play Centre Wellington in the D10 final. Game time Friday at the Mitchell Athletics Centre is 6 p.m. Ross finished atop the league after a perfect 14-0 regular season. Lourdes was fifth at 6-8.
Centre Wellington 38 St. James 35
Josh McEachren struck for 17 points for Centre Wellington while McKenzie Mathers had nine and Sam Goindi added seven. Joey Hasson and Quinn Feeney collected 10 apiece for St. James while Brandon Evans followed with nine. The teams had finished tied for second at 10-4.
D4 Sr. Boys Basketball Championship
Centre Dufferin 82 Westside 50
Marco Zanette led Centre Dufferin with 25 points while Doug Costanzo had 17 and Carlo Zanette added 15. Westside received 20 from Luke Milican and eight from Connor Clark.
D4 Jr. Boys Basketball Championship
Centre Dufferin 30 Westside 29
Noah Sterling’s nine points led Centre Dufferin while Cole Newton netted eight and Hayden Hooker had seven. Evan Clark had nine for Westside while Brad Horn contributed eight.
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