Article By: Jacob Robinson
This one had all the markings of a premier regular-season battle, and delivered just that.
The winner of Thursday's meeting between Simcoe Sabres and Holy Trinity Titans senior basketball teams would not only receive bragging rights over their cross-town rival, but move closer to finishing first in the NSSAA regular-season standings.
Early on, it was all Sabres as they jumped out to a 10-0 advantage, but the Titans rode the momentum gained from winning their annual Knights of Norfolk Tournament this past weekend in earning a one-point, 36-35 victory.
The Titans didn't take their first lead in the contest until there was 3:29 to go in the fourth, but managed to hold on for their seventh straight victory, including tournament play.
"I think it's just our team, our chemistry has just gotten a lot better and we just play better all together now and we play smart," said Titan Eric Weber, who scored eight points.
The result would've been altogether different had a couple bounces gone Simcoe's way in the final minute. With his team down three with seconds remaining, Simcoe sharpshooter Tommy Tran -- already with 11 points -- was fouled from beyond the arc, and hit two of his three free-throw attempts. With just three ticks left on the clock, the Sabres forced a steal off the inbound and got the ball to Tran, whose buzzer-beating shot narrowly clanked off the iron and out, resulting in the Sabres second-straight loss.
"I was just thinking to not foul, I felt that would be the worst thing to do," said Weber of the final sequence. "I figured if we just played hard defence, ran our inbounds play ... it was only three seconds so I wasn't really too worried."
Following a 7-0 start, the Sabres recorded a 1-2 record in last weekend's tournament at Holy Trinity and two straight losses this week to Delhi and the Titans. Ahead four at the half and five heading to the final quarter Thursday, Simcoe was unable to hold on, thanks in part to the Titans stingy defence.
"We've just got to be able to handle pressure, work on our press break, get open for passes and keep moving our feet," said Sabre Cody Cunningham.
"We were letting them take easy baskets, our zone is supposed to stop them in the middle, (but) we were letting them get easy layups and (we had some) stupid fouls."
And so playoff positioning will come down to this afternoon. Simcoe still has an outside shot of finishing first by virtue of their tiebreaker over Holy Trinity. The Sabres will need to defeat Waterford today and hope that the Titans can top Delhi. If the Raiders are victorious, they'll take top spot, the Sabres will be second with a win today and Holy Trinity comes in third. The Titans can clinch first with a win, and Simcoe loss. With a win Thursday, Waterford will finish fourth.
No matter where they finish, Simcoe is hoping to buck their current losing trend when the league semi-finals tip off Tuesday.
"We've just got to work on everything," said Cunningham. "Our offence needs a lot of work, our press break -- we've just got to pull out a win."
The Titans are currently riding high, but know there's plenty of work to do when everyone's record goes back to 0-0.
"We've really just got to play smart, that's the best thing we can really do," said Weber.
"We've just got to be smart on offence and defence."
Titans point guard Josh Johnson led all scorers with 19.
In other league action, Waterford beat Valley Heights 42-33 to clinch a playoff position. Greg Vezsenyi paced the Wolves with 13 points, John Wall had 10 for the Bears. Delhi got their seventh win of the season by defeating Port Dover.
Waterford's juniors topped Valley Heights 42-33. Tyler Simon scored 13 points and Corey MacLean had 10 for the Wolves.
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