Senior WCSSAA Semifinal: Highlanders Stun Vikings With Final-Minute Rally

Who cares about having started the season 0-4 --- the SJAM Highlanders are winning games when they count.

The Landers picked up their second consecutive playoff upset, and 10th win in their last 11 WCSSAA games, by nipping the second-seeded WCI Vikings in a 41-40 thriller at Preston on Saturday evening.

The game was tight throughout, with the Vikings owning leads of 10-8 and 23-18 after the first and second quarters, respectively.

SJAM would start to heat up in the third quarter, nearly doubling their scoring output from the first two frames.  A three-ball by Theshawn Barry would actually give SJAM a 29-27 advantage, though the Vikes would rebound to assume a 35-34 lead heading to the final quarter.

A big moment towards the end of the third occurred when Connor Bradley had a massive block on a lay-up attempt off the backboard, but the ball came right to WCI's Alex Heap who drilled a three-pointer.

The Vikes and 'Landers both struggled offensively during the final frame ---- in fact, SJAM went scoreless for the first 4:30 of that quarter.  However, the Vikes only were able to put up three points themselves during that span, so when SJAM's Nathaniel Ellis canned a three-ball with 3:30 to go, it cut the Viking edge down to 38-37.

With the score the same about two minutes later, SJAM's Barry saw a two-point attempt just rattle out.  On the other end, the Vikes' Jacob Ranton was fouled and went to the line for a one-and-one opportunity and just over a minute to play.

Though Ranton missed the front end, SJAM was whistled for a lane violation which proved costly as Ranton rebounded to make both and push WCI's lead to 40-37.

Back the other way, Ellis hit a three from the corner that tied things up at 40-40 (:56 left).  Then, WCI turned the ball over heading the other way and SJAM came back in transition where Ben Reyhani was fouled on a jump-shot attempt.

Reyhani hit one-of-two free throws with 46.7 seconds left to give the 'Landers their first lead of the final quarter at 41-40.

WCI had several opportunities down the stretch.  First, after a tip out of bounds where WCI retained possession, Theshawn Barry was able to draw a charge (on WCI's Heap) with 16.0 seconds left. 

Forced to foul, WCI put Barry to the line where he missed the front-end of the one-and-one.  WCI put the ball on the deck coming the other way but were able to scramble and call a timeout with only 8.9 seconds now on the clock.

And what a final 8.9 seconds it was.

On a scramble situation, the ball came out to Zach Totzke (with 4 seconds left) whose shot attempt was cleanly blocked by SJAM's big man, Quinn Turner.  Totzke got the ball back and heaved up a desperation three-point attempt (which was also well defended by Turner) that did not fall, giving the 6th-seeded Highlanders the upset win.

The finals appearance will be the 5th straight for SJAM, though they have dropped the last two championships after defeating upstart KCI in 2009.

SJAM's scoring --- the majority of which came beyond the three-point arc (only 4 two-point field goals and 4 made free-throws) was led by Ellis, who moved to Waterloo from Tillsonburg this year.  He finished with 15 points.  Other 'Landers on the scoresheet included Theshawn Barry (10), Ben Reyhani (7), Sam Woods (6) and Connor Bradley (3).

WCI's Jacob Ranton had a tremendous game, leading all scorers with 21 points while adding 12 rebounds.  Other Vikes to score included Dani Elgadi (7), Alex Heap (5), Malcolm Piazza (4), and Zach Totzke (3).

WCI's usual starting point guard, grade 11 Adam Anagnostopoulos, did not play as he was in the US for a volleyball tournament.

Boxscore

SJAM   08-10-16-07 = 41
WCI      10-13-12-05 = 40

SJAM
B. Reyhani      2-10 FG, 1-2 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 7 Pts.
C. Bradley      1-4 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Ast - 3 Pts.
T. Barry         4-10 FG, 0-2 FT, 8 Reb, 2 Ast - 10 Pts.
Q. Turner        0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Ast - 0 Pts.
N. Ellis           5-14 FG, 2-2 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Ast - 15 Pts.
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S. Woods       2-4 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 6 Pts.

Field Goals:  14-43 (.325).  Free-Throws:  3-6 (.500).  Three-Point Goals:  10-27, .370 (N. Ellis 3-10, T. Barry 2-3, S. Woods 2-3, B. Reyhani 2-7, C. Bradley 1-4).

WCI
A. Heap          2-6 FG, 0-0 FT, 4 Reb, 1 Ast - 5 Pts.
J. Ranton       7-14 FG, 5-6 FT, 12 Reb, 0 Ast - 21 Pts.
D. Elgadi         3-11 FG, 1-2 FT, 11 Reb, 1 Ast - 7 Pts.
Z. Totzke        1-7 FG, 1-1 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
M. Piazza        2-4 FG, 0-0 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Ast - 4 Pts.
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J. McGowan    0-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
P. Wildgen       0-0 FG, 0-1 FT, 0 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.

Field Goals:  15-44 (.341).  Free-Throws:  7-10 (.700).  Three-Point Goals:  3-10, .300 (J. Ranton 2-2, A. Heap 1-1, M. Piazza 0-1, J. McGowan 0-1, D. Elgadi 0-2, Z. Totzke 0-3).