If you had told me going into Monday night's game that the St. Mary's Eagles would make just 5 two-point field goals and 4 free-throws, I would have said that their chances of coming away victorious would be pretty slim.Thankfully for them, they knocked down 13 three-point field goals (shooting nearly 50% from that distance) which helped propel them to a 53-47 victory over the WCI Vikings in the championship final of the AAAA tournament in Guelph.
The win was St. Mary's second consecutive title at the AAAA tournament, naturally meaning that they advance to AAAA OFSAA for the second consecutive year as well.
The Eagles started strong, with grade eleven guard Jermaine Lyle knocking home a couple of three-pointers in the opening minutes. However, St. Mary's couldn't shake WCI, who took advantage of their size edge with Dani Elgadi and Malcolm Piazza scoring several baskets inside; the first quarter ended with the Eagles up 15-13.
Telloy Simon started to heat up for St. Mary's in the second stanza, knocking in a couple of threes of his own. However, WCI maintained contact and trailed by only three (26-23) at the halftime intermission.
WCI came out strong in the second half, with (like the semifinal) an Adam Anagnostopoulos to Dani Elgadi alley-oop throwdown getting the Vikes back within one on the first possession of the second half. The Vikes would go on a 7-0 run over the first 2:15 of the second half to take a 30-26 edge.
Just when it looked as though WCI might take hold of the game, St. Mary's again heated up from behind the arc.
Back-to-back three-pointers from Simon capped an 11-2 St. Mary's run that pushed the Eagles back in front 37-32. It would have been 39-32, save for a missed dunk attempt by Tyrick Thompson.
Still, St. Mary's assumed an eight-point edge after three, and Simon's sixth three-pointer of the game early in the fourth quarter pushed the lead to double-digits (48-37). WCI would keep battling; a Nick Johnny three-pointer with 4:00 to go got them back within single-digits (50-42) but WCI would get no closer than six points down the stretch.
For St. Mary's, Telloy Simon had 21 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while Jermaine Lyle added 12 points (all from beyond the arc). Nathan Riley (8), Tyrick Thompson (6), Jamari Stevenson (3), Avery Sutton (3) and Tyler Hergott (2) rounded out the Eagle scoring.
WCI was led by Zach Totzke's 16 points, while Malcolm Piazza had 10 points and 5 rebounds. Dani Elgadi had 8 points while clearing 19 rebounds. Also scoring for WCI were Nick Johnny (8), Adam Anagnostopoulos (5 + game high 5 assists) and Etai Mizrahi (2).
Both teams will advance to the AAAA OFSAA championships in Windsor, which take place March 4th-6th.
Boxscore
SMHS 15-11-16-11 = 53
WCI 13-10-11-13 = 47
WCI (47)
Z. Totzke 5-7 FG, 1-2 FT, 2 Reb, 3 Ast - 16 Pts.
N. Johnny 3-7 FG, 0-0 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 8 Pts.
A. Angstpls 2-9 FG, 1-2 FT, 3 Reb, 5 Ast - 5 Pts.
D. Elgadi 4-11 FG, 0-0 FT, 19 Reb, 2 Ast - 8 Pts.
M. Piazza 5-6 FG, 0-2 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 10 Pts.
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E. Mizrahi 1-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
J. Milks 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
J. McGowan 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
J. Thangaraj 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 20-43 (.465). Free-Throws: 2-6 (.333). Three-Point Goals: 5-16, .313 (Z. Totzke 3-5, N. Johnny 2-5, D. Elgadi 0-2, A. Anagnostopoulos 0-4).
St. Mary's (52)
N. Riley 2-9 FG, 2-5 FT, 7 Reb, 2 Ast - 8 Pts.
J. Lyle 4-10 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 1 Ast - 12 Pts.
A. Sutton 1-6 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 3 Pts.
T. Hergott 1-2 FG, 0-1 FT, 1 Reb, 2 Ast - 2 Pts.
T. Simon 7-16 FG, 1-2 FT, 7 Reb, 4 Ast - 21 Pts.
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Thompson 2-6 FG, 1-2 FT, 1 Reb, 2 Ast - 6 Pts.
Stevenson 1-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
E. Duong 0-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 18-53 (.340). Free-Throws: 4-10 (.400). Three-Point Goals: 13-28, .465 (T. Simon 6-12, J. Lyle 4-6, T. Thompson 1-1, J. Stevenson 1-1, A. Sutton 1-5, N. Riley 0-1, E. Duong 0-2).
