I couldn't help but notice yesterday that Holy Trinity (Simcoe) guard Josh Johnson scored 28 of his team's 32 points, albeit in a losing effort against Delhi.
This made me think of some other classic "put the team on my back" playoff moments in "recent memory" (the image is in reference to the famous Greg Jennings "Madden" broken leg YouTube video) . Here's what I quickly came up with:
7. Achonwa Nearly Outscores Royals in D10 Semifinals (2006)
Natalie Achonwa --- who now plays for the highly-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the NCAA --- had a memorable outing when she played junior basketball at Guelph Centennial in 2006. She poured home a ridiculous 41 points, nearly outscoring JF Ross (43) as the Spartans defeated their AAAA rivals and advanced to the D10 finals.
6. Ellis Wills Phoenix to CWOSSA Title (2010)
After the WCI Vikings had soundly defeated the Resurrection Phoenix in pool play at the 2010 CWOSSA "AAAA" championship, it was clear that they were favourites entering the championship final.
Cue the Alphonso Ellis show.
The grade ten guard, who had never played organized basketball until that season, scored 19 of Rez's 43 points in the championship final, including calling for the ball and hitting the tie-breaking basket on an and-one floater down the lane (in the waning seconds) as the Phoenix captured their second straight CWOSSA crown. A memorable moment was Ellis' encouraging of his teammates during a late timeout, where he yelled at them that "we didn't come here to lose!".
5. Filip Cvrkalj Battles Gaels, Illness in WCSSAA Semifinals (2010)
Battling an illness that actually kept him out of the Rens starting lineup, Cvrkalj willed his team back against Cameron Heights after the Rens trailed 37-23 entering the fourth quarter. He drilled several three-pointers early on as the Rens went on a 12-0 run in 2:30 of game time.
His sixth three-ball of the game gave the Rens the lead at 47-44 (with about 1:00 to go). Although the Gaels would tie it late, the Rens --- seeded 6th in that year's playoff bracket --- were able to prevail by a 54-48 final in overtime, advancing to the WCSSAA championship game.
4. Horne Comes Through in the Clutch (2005)
On their home-court, and up by 3 points with only seconds to play, it seemed as though the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels (#4 seed) would upset the WCI Vikings (#1) and cause a serious wrinkle in that year's WCSSAA finals and CWOSSA seeding.
However, with mere seconds left and the Vikes inbounding from under their own basket, WCI's Gavin Horne hauled in a long inbounds pass and after a dribble, was fouled in the act of shooting with 0.6 remaining on the clock. Despite the Cameron faithful making things difficult with some noise, he calmly drilled all three free-throws to force overtime and then scored several clutch baskets in the extra session to advance the Vikings on to the WCSSAA finals (footnote: they would win both the WCSSAA & CWOSSA finals that year).
3. Polischuk Helps St. John's Take OFSAA Silver (2011)
Although the entire St. John's roster stepped up at this past year's OFSAA championships, the play of Polischuk, who often hit for 40%, or even 50% of her team's points, was most noteworthy.
As Green Eagle head coach Matt Lynch noted to the Brantford Expositor, "every game we went into, every team knew they had to shut her down and she still scored. She had one of the best tournaments I've ever seen her play."
SJC was seeded 11th at this past year's OFSAA tournament and went on a tremendous run after dropping their opening game to #1 St. Thomas More. They reeled off three consecutive wins before falling again to the top-ranked Knights in the OFSAA final.
2. Bobby Colorado Goes Off on West Hill (2006)
Many people though that the Grand River Renegades were satisfied with just getting to the 2006 OFSAA "AAAA" tournament in Waterloo. They were quickly proven wrong.
The Rens, who were seeded 15th in the 16-team field, had their first match-up against the heavily favoured West Hill Warriors out of Toronto (#5). Although PG Imad Qahwash was GRCI's scoring leader, it was the unheralded Bobby Colorado who came through with a career-high and nearly led the Rens to an improbable upset.
Now, I'm not just talking about any career-high here. Colorado, who would usually score about 10 PPG, went off for 37 points on one of the top teams in the province, and had his team AHEAD late in the fourth quarter before the Warriors made some key baskets down the stretch to pull out the win. With the game in Waterloo (RIM Park), the crowd was going crazy with each three-pointer or baseline jumper he hit. I'd put that as one of the best CWOSSA-related HS games I've attended in person.
1. Ian Harriotte Leads St. Benedict to Unlikely OFSAA Appearance (2003)
Ian Harriotte was a very good senior basketball player for the St. Benedict Saints. However, his run through the 2003 CWOSSA "AAAA" playdowns surely cemented his place in CWOSSA basketball history.
As a history lesson, back in those days, the CWOSSA AAAA tournament was a bracketed, 8-team affair with each team ranked. There were generally 1 or 2 "wild card" entries, who were teams that were good teams but who would not have automatically qualified for CWOSSA. After losing the D8 senior final that year to Resurrection, St. Benedict was forced to play a "play in" game with the winner assuming the #6 seed in the tournament.
After getting by the play-in game, the #6 Saints had a first-round game against the #3 WCI Vikings. Harriotte went off in that contest, scoring in the neighbourhood of 30 points, and advancing the Saints through to the CWOSSA semifinals, where they faced an even stiffer test in the D10 champs and #2 seeded Guelph Centennial Spartans --- the winner would advance through to the OFSAA championships.
However, Harriotte was more than up to the challenge. He sliced and diced the Spartan defense for another 25+ effort (a memorable moment was CCVI Coach Rob Conroy just shaking his head after a ridiculous move by Harriotte in the second half). The Saints held off the Spartans for their second consecutive shocker in as many days, and in doing so, qualified for the OFSAA tournament for the first time in school history.
Harriotte would have another good performance in the CWOSSA final, though the Saints would fall short against the #1 seeded KCI Raiders (Borko Popic & Craig Bauslaugh), 54-42. The damage, however, was done as the unheralded Saints had qualified to participate in the 2003 "AAAA" OFSAA championships.
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