Remember back at the start of the season when many people wrote off the SJAM Highlanders after an 0-4 start?
Well, those same SJAM Highlanders reeled off their 9th win in 10 league and playoff games on Thursday, going on the road and upsetting the #3 Grand River Renegades to the tune of 47-42.
The Rens did a great job of limiting SJAM star Ben Reyhani to just 11 points, but Nathaniel Ellis had 14 and Quinn Turner was also in double digits with 11. Chuder Teny had a game-high 16 for GRCI with Filip Cvrkalj adding 12.
The 'Landers will now take on #2 WCI in the first semifinal (6:30pm) on Saturday at Preston. WCI defeated #10 Cameron Heights in a thrilling 71-68 game over on Hazel St. Dani Elgadi poured in 24 for the Vikes, while fellow front-court teammate Jacob Ranton added 18. Zach Totzke chipped in with 14.
Grade 11 reserve guard Afraz Khan had an impressive outing, as he drilled seven three-pointers in one quarter's worth of action (!) en route to a 24-point performance. Vedran Dmitrovic added 18 for CHCI.
The WCI-SJAM game will also serve as a CWOSSA "AAAA" qualifier, with the winner getting a berth at next weekend's tournament in Guelph.
The other senior semifinal will see #1 Forest Heights battle #5 Jacob Hespeler after both teams rolled to impressive wins.
The Trojans took out #9 Huron Heights 79-54, exacting a bit of revenge from when the (then #8 seed) Huskies took out the Trojans in very similar circumstances during the 2010 junior playoffs. Javon Masters had 26 in the win, while Juwan Miller netted 17. Sean Samuel had 23 for Huron, with Alex Deadman adding 9.
Jacob Hespeler, meanwhile, went on the road and took care of #4 Galt by a 55-39 final. Jason Quiring had a huge effort for JH, pouring in 26, while Saajan Arora added 9. Owais Khairi had 19 and Gabe Vidal 8 for Galt, while the Hawks did a great job of limiting the effect of Galt forward Jack Simmons.
Semifinal Saturday at Preston HS
6:30pm - WCI vs. SJAM
8:00pm - Forest Heights vs. JHSS
Junior
Three of the top four seeds advanced through to the semifinals, while the lone "upset" wasn't really much of one as the #5 Eastwood Rebels (who I would have considered the favourite in their game) defeated #4 Galt by a 62-47 final.
Ousmane Kromah did his usual dirty work on the inside as he finished with a 24-point effort, and Tre Nicholson added 17 more for ECI. TJ Lall finished his WCSSAA season with a game-high 28 point effort, and Lazar Stevanovic also had 11 for Galt.
Things didn't go smoothly for either of the other "AAA" schools that made it through to the quarterfinals.
As expected, #1 WCI handled #9 Preston handily, 64-41. Bojan Vincic (20), Ivan Bilandzic (16) and Nick Johnny (14) continued WCI's reputation as a very balanced scoring offense. Tanner Derjugin had 10, while Ryan Mitchell and Tyler Gibner netted 9 each for PHS.
Cameron Heights took care of #6 Huron Heights 58-32, backed by 15 from Nikola Farkic and 13 from Sasha Simic. Arshid Babury and Ahmed Radi had 13 each for the Huskies.
In the final quarterfinal game, Grand River had a very impressive performance as they stomped the SJAM Highlanders to the tune of 76-45. Four Rens hit double figures, including Jamal Murray (15), Adi Trtovac (12), Patrik Odouk (12) and Murtada Khamis (11). Brett Parrott had a game-high 21 for SJAM, with Nedim Hodzic adding 8.
With regards to semifinal Saturday, all four teams that have advanced to the semifinals are "AAAA" schools, which means that the winners of both games will advance through to CWOSSA. The schedule is as follows:
Semifinal Saturday - Junior
3:30pm - Grand River vs. Cameron Heights
5:00pm - WCI vs. Eastwood
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