Article By: Mark Bryson
CAMBRIDGE — The St. David Celtics are going to the playoffs.
That’s the good news for the Celtics.
The St. Mary’s Eagles — much to the chagrin of the Waterloo crew — are waiting for them.
The Celtics qualified for the District 8 senior boys basketball league’s post-season on Tuesday by posting back-to-back wins over the Rockway Flames and Monsignor Doyle Mustangs. The three teams had posted 2-8 won-lost records during the regular season, forcing the tiebreaker to determine a semifinal opponent for the powerful Eagles, who topped the standings with a 10-0 record.
The Celtics scored a 49-38 win over Rockway and then rallied from an early deficit to defeat Monsignor Doyle in 40-37 nail-biter. St. David also qualified for the Central Western Ontario triple-A championship with the win.
“It’s amazing and it’s great that we get to go to the next round,” said Celtics forward Matt Murawsky.
“We’ll be huge underdogs against Mary’s but we have just as good a chance as anyone else.”
The Celtics and Eagles faced twice during the regular season, with the Eagles scoring convincing wins of 70-35 and 89-24.
Wednesday’s other semifinal will pit the second-place Resurrection Phoenix (8-2) against the third-place St.
Benedict Saints (6-4). The Phoenix won both regular-season meetings, including a 60-22 victory last Monday.
The championship final will be played at 8 p.m. on Friday at the University of Waterloo. The junior championship will tip off at 6 p.m.
The Mustangs actually had a chance to send the tiebreaker into overtime but Uzair Khan’s three-point attempt rattled off the rim at the buzzer. Khan had hit six three-point shots during the game; including three in a row in the first quarter as the Mustangs built an 11-2 lead.
The Celtics, thanks in large part to the rebounding heroics of Murawsky and Francis Samson, fought back to take a 22-20 halftime lead.
Phil Ciomplik had 11 points for the Celtics, while Jake Winter had 15 and Murawsky chipped in with six.
Winter agreed with Murawsky that the Celtics would be in tough against the Eagles but was also hopeful of pulling off a monumental upset.
“The only ones who will think we have a chance to win will be us because Mary’s is a very good team with a lot of talent,” he said.
“There’s always a chance though . . . those miracles that happen on the court from time to time.”
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