Article By: Jacob Robinson
There's a saying in basketball circles regarding shots from beyond the arc that goes like this: "You live by the three, you die by the three."
The Simcoe Sabres junior boys squad was living large by the three on Thursday.
Simcoe nailed five field goals from long distance against Holy Trinity, three courtesy of Evan Drescher, to beat their crosstown rivals 36-29 and claim NSSAA gold.
With time ticking away in the first quarter, it was Holy Trinity's Mark Gubbels that dialed long distance at the buzzer to give his team a one-point lead. But the Sabres responded by out-scoring their opponents 11-0 in the second quarter. That surge was capped by Drescher's three pointer from beyond the arc to whip the capacity crowd into a frenzy and help give the Sabres a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
"We just put so much effort and so much practice in these shots," Drescher said. "(Wednesday) night we had shooting practice, and we got intense in that because we shot so many times."
It didn't take long for the Sabres to realize their best chance to defeat the Titans -- who seemingly came from nowhere to earn a spot in the title game -- was to shoot from a distance. With Holy Trinity centre Tevaun Gardner registering north of 10 blocks, many in the first quarter, Simcoe was pretty much forced to work from the outside.
"We didn't do so well against him early, so we just tried to pass it around as much as we could," said Drescher.
The result was a ten-point lead after three quarters, and despite the Titans inching back to within six, Sabres captain Jordan Peever scored seven of his 11 points in the final quarter, including a highlight-reel reverse layup to clinch the win.
At the buzzer, Drescher was hoisted by teammate Aiden Wark after a victory the two won't soon forget.
"That was the best moment of my life," Drescher said. "This is what my whole junior high school career has been waiting for. I just really wanted this win."
Early on, it appeared as though the underdogs Titans had an answer for every one of Simcoe's long distance shots.
"We just came out pretty hyped, we've been looking forward to (the finals) for a while. That was our goal all year, we were pumped up and we rode off that," said Gubbels, who led his team with nine points.
"We slowed down a bit and kind of just sat back hoping everything would happen and once a break went their way, we kind of just fell apart for a while."
While the Sabres will head to Our Lady of Loudes in Guelph to compete in a double-A CWOSSA play-in game Tuesday, the Titans will head to Brantford Collegiate the same day to try and earn a spot in the triple-A version of the tournament.
Win or lose, the Titans -- a team that was in danger of missing the playoffs during the regular season's final week -- accomplished what they set out to do, even if many didn't believe they could.
"The first day, our coaches said that our goal was to make it to the finals," Gubbles explained. "We all knew that we could and we probably were going to, but everyone else didn't think we would. After we got off to a slow start, we just reeled it together for the end."
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