The Teams: Grand River Renegades (11-1 Regular Season) and the Eastwood Rebels (9-3 Regular Season).
Where and When: Preston HS in Cambridge, Tip Time 7:00pm.
The Fan Vote: 70% say Grand River will win (as of 11:00pm Tuesday)
Regular Season Meeting: Grand River 65 (Adi Trtovac 16), Eastwood 44 (Sydney Stewart 13).
How they Got Here: Grand River defeated #7 SJAM 76-45 in QF; defeated #3 CHCI 45-42 in SF. ECI defeated #12 SSS 61-16 in QR; defeated #4 GCI 62-47 in QF; defeated #1 WCI 62-47 in SF.
Eastwood - Projected Starters
#2 - Izzy Nemeth, PG, 5'7" (Grade 10)
#3 - Ousmane Kromah, F, 5'10" (Grade 10)
#13 - Tyrelle Rafferty, G, 5'9" (Grade 10)
#24 - Sydney Stewart, F, 5'10" (Grade 10)
#42 - Tre Nicholson, F, 5'11" (Grade 10)
Sixth Man - Ahamad Ali, F, 5'10" (Grade 10)
Coaches: Ivan Parkinson, Scott Bruinsma
Grand River - Projected Starters
#11 - Murtada Khamis, PG, 5'10" (Grade 10)
#22 - Adi Trtovac, SG, 6'0" (Grade 10)
#31 - Jamal Murray, SF, 6'2" (Grade 9)
#33 - Joedey Wonch-Castiglione, F, 6'0" (Grade 10)
#40 - Petar Petkovic, F, 6'4" (Grade 10)
Sixth Man: David Bajic, 5'10" G, Grade 10
Coaches: Tolly Henderson, Bob Lang
Game Background
The Grand River Renegades are getting quite accustomed to making WCSSAA junior boys' semifinal and final appearances. Each year for the last 5 seasons, we've seen the Rens making a "final four" appearance.
The Eastwood Rebels? Well, this is new and exciting territory for this program.
The Rens will be seeking their second WCSSAA title in the last 4 years (also were runners-up in 2010), while the Rebels will be in search of their first WCSSAA title since, I believe, 1993 --- not that any of the current crop of Rebs were even born at that time.
One other thing from a background perspective is that the success of Eastwood and the competitive games that we've seen this year (they played in the ECI tournament final) has essentially "resurrected" the Eastwood-Grand River rivalry.
"Most of the team members on both sides are friends," noted ECI head coach Ivan Parkinson, "so bragging rights will be big for them."
It should also help lead to an great contest down at Preston HS on Wednesday evening.
What the Coaches Have To Say
With the squads having played a couple times (both Grand River wins - including the regular season affair), it's clear that the Rens --- also the higher ranked team --- should be the favourites. However, GRCI coach Tolly Henderson said his club isn't approaching the game that way.
"Even though we won earlier games this year against ECI, this is the finals; they're a well coached team that has shown significant improvement since we played them last," he said.
"They easily beat a team that we lost to just last week," he added, in reference to Eastwood's convincing semifinal win over WCI.
All that being said, the Renegades are confident in virtually every basketball situation --- including late game deficits, as they showed on Saturday afternoon.
"We have a very resilient team that never feels like it can't come from behind late in games," Henderson said.
"This years team all truly love the game of basketball and I expect all of them to make contributions on both the senior and junior levels next year here at GRCI."
A big part of those late-game heroics has been grade nine G/F Jamal Murray, and his name was right at the top of the list when it came to discussing challenges in facing Grand River with ECI coach Ivan Parkinson.
"Containing Jamal and dealing with their pressure are two big challenges," Parkinson said, "and also getting the kids to believe they can win after losing twice to them already."
Of course, the Rebels appear to be an improved team as of late, and Parkinson said that he's seen "an improved level of maturity with his squad over the year", something that will certainly be important in the WCSSAA finals environment.
Game Preview
Getting to the action on the court, is any team hotter than the Eastwood Rebels right now?
The Rebs have been on an offensive tear as of late, having hit 60+ points in all but one of their 5 games since the exam break. And they haven't been playing the bottom feeders of the WCSSAA standings either --- all but one of those games have been against teams in the top half of the standings.
One thing you'll notice about Eastwood is that they don't have a lot of size. In fact, they don't have a single player over 5'11" on their entire roster! Of course, they more than make up for it with their athleticism. Tre Nicholson (who scored 3-4 TDs a game for the WCSSAA championship Rebel football squad) and Ousmane Kromah are both in the 5'10" - 5'11" range but both racked up double-digit rebounds against a WCI front line that included 6'5" forward Ivan Bilandzic (as well as two other regulars between 6'1" and 6'3"). The Rebels actually nearly doubled up the Vikes on the boards on Saturday (28-16 was the final tally).
Rounding out the ECI starting five are Izzy Nemeth --- a very efficient shooter and a solid ball-handler; Tyrelle Rafferty, who injured his wrist on Saturday but apparently will be playing through the pain on Wednesday; and Sydney Stewart, who had several well-timed finishes to help thwart off any WCI comeback attempt on Saturday.
Eastwood doesn't go very deep (6-7 players) so the foul situation will certainly be something to keep an eye on.
On the flip side, the Rens have been ranked in and around my top 3 CWOSSA teams the whole season. They have arguably the quickest guard in the region (Murtada Khamis), and the smooth-shooting SF Jamal Murray. Thus far, it's proven to be a deadly combo for WCSSAA (and many CWOSSA) foes.
Khamis has the ability to drive and kick to Murray, or Adi Trtovac and Joedey Wonch-Castiglione --- both of whom are adept three-point shooters.
Murray is as comfortable finishing around the rim as he is pulling up for a 15-footer (or a three-pointer as he showed in the final minute of the game on Saturday). Eastwood is certainly going to have to try to somehow limit him; he went off for 6 three-pointers in their 45-35 tournament victory at Eastwood and the Rebels certainly can't afford a repeat of that performance. It will be interesting to see what they try and come up with.
Defensively, the Rens are great at pressuring the ball with Khamis and the length of Murray. 6'4" big man Petar Petkovic has their back at the rim down low.
How ECI handles GRCI's pressure will certainly go a long way to determining their success on Wednesday evening.
The X-Factors
I usually try to assign "X-Factor" status to one player on each team. For this game, I'm going with ECI's Sydney Stewart and Joedey Wonch-Castiglione of GRCI.
Stewart had a solid performance on Saturday (11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds) and they're going to need a similar effort on Wednesday. Despite his size (5'10"), he's an excellent finisher inside and through contact.
Wonch-Castiglione is probably the WCSSAA leader in charges taken, if such statistics were kept. He's had as many as five in one game this season, and had one (while close to another that was called a block) on Saturday. He can also step out and hit the three, so could definitely impact the momentum of this game on either the offensive or defensive end of the floor.
Prediction
It's been a while since Eastwood has tasted victory in the WCSSAA championships, so first and foremost I have to congratulate the Rebs for making this finals appearance. There's been a few lean years over the past 15+ years, and it's nice to see this group of kids make some noise and get back to CWOSSA.
As neat a story as it is though, I can't pick a team solely for that reason.
I think the opening minutes of the game are going to be HUGE for both teams. If Eastwood can have a great start like they did against WCI, I really think they have a decent shot at pulling this upset. If the Rens can put the pressure on ECI early by getting a decent lead, they may be able to cruise to the title.
I'll play it safe and go for something in the middle. Grand River 55, Eastwood 46.
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