Article By: Rob Massey
GUELPH — The Lourdes Crusaders had to work overtime and in the end it came down to a pair of free throws hit by co-captain Ben King in the final 50 seconds of the extra period that was the difference.
Twice King hit the second of two free throws after missing the first, but it was good enough for the Crusaders to edge the Centre Wellington Falcons 47-45 in the District 10 senior boys’ basketball final Friday night at the Mitchell Athletics Centre.
“I just figured I’d shoot them like any other foul shot I’ve had and just knock them down,” King said. “I knew that the game was going to be close in the overtime so I made sure I made those two foul shots count.
“I missed the first two on each set, and then adjusted. It was great to knock them down and it was a spectacular feeling. A lot of practise paid off.”
The championship was the first D10 senior boys’ basketball title for Lourdes.
“It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take a win any day no matter how we get there,” Lourdes coach Scott Robinson said. “I told the team to stick together and it was going to have to be work to beat this team. I had that feeling after the first quarter that this was going to be a dogfight right to the end.”
The game was a close, low-scoring affair. Each team held leads of five points during the game and neither led by more.
Centre Wellington was up 9-7 at the end of the first quarter of the see-saw affair. Lourdes led 22-21 at the half and the Falcons were ahead 33-30 after three quarters. The teams were tied 39-39 after regulation time.
“You can’t ask for more when you go to overtime in a championship game,” Centre Wellington coach Jeff Brubacher said. “There were a couple of times when we got down a little bit, but we fought back and our (defence) was phenomenal. We just worked really hard to get opportunities.”
Mike Finoro started the extra period with a basket five seconds in and Lourdes was never behind after that, although Centre Wellington did pull even a couple of times, the last time with 2:17 to go.
The Crusaders, though, collected their final four points on the foul line as Sharieff Peru also hit two.
Finoro led the Crusaders with 17 points while Peru had 13 and King netted six. Jordan Trimble had four while Maximillian Raab had three and Liam O’Regan added two.
The starters handled all the scoring for Centre Wellington. Reid Goindi had 16 while Jacob Hewitt-Smith followed with 12. Gavin MacNamara had seven with six going to Wade Uhrig and four to Tim Francis.
“I knew with the talent that we have and the champions that we have — a lot of these kids have won in other sports as well — that that attitude would take over and carry us to the end,” Robinson said.
Crusaders who have won D10 championships in other sports include Peru and Anthony Joaquim (football) and Raab (soccer).
Game MVPs were Raab for Lourdes and Goindi for Centre Wellington.
While Centre Wellington advances to next week’s CWOSSA AAAA tournament at Ross (the host Royals will be there, too), Lourdes must win a qualifier Tuesday against Simcoe Composite to gain a berth in the CWOSSA AA tournament at Bishop Mac.
Junior Boys’ Basketball
The Ross Royals completed a perfect District 10 season with a 45-35 victory over the Centre Wellington Falcons in Friday’s final at the University of Guelph.
The win was the 17th in as many D10 outings this season for the Royals. They won all 14 of their regular-season games and their three playoff games.
“We played a John F. Ross game and that was the difference,” Ross coach Charlie Douglas said. “We played our game. We pushed the pace. We played our game. That’s the way we came in here and that’s the only thing we talked about.”
Douglas also made sure his team also got the most out of the championship-game experience.
“(You have to enjoy) the moment because you never know when you’re coming back,” he said.
Ross led 11-10 at the end of the first quarter, 22-14 after the second quarter and 34-21 after the third quarter.
Douglas credited the depth of the Royals for the win and the undefeated season.
“We have 15 players all who work out every single morning every single day — work their tail off,” he said.
“We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game, they’re a strong, strong team with good coaching and led by good players. But Ross is deeper and that was the difference in the game.”
Mo Hussien had a game-high 18 points for Ross while Greg Schwann followed with eight. Andrew Folkerson chipped in with six while Nathan Earley had four, Harris Cornett three and Tommy Yanchus, Vlad Vamanu and Daniel Street two apiece.
Josh McEachren led Centre Wellington with 11 points and was followed by James Scott with nine, Ashlar Young Evans with seven, Dan Wright with four, Brendan Ballantyne with three and Jameson Drimmie with one.
Game MVPs were Hussien for Ross and McEachren for Centre Wellington.
Both teams advance to next week’s CWOSSA AAAA tournament at Ross.
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