Article By: Darryl G. SmartThe St. John's Green Eagles don't like to do anything the easy way.
After playing catch up to win Game 1 of their best-of-three senior boys basketball series Monday, the Green Eagles nearly squandered a 19-point halftime lead in a 53-51 win over the Assumption College Lions at home Thursday.
"Can never just win it easy," Tim Dawson said. "It's an adrenaline thing I guess. Ever since we were little we'd get a big lead and couldn't hold it."
With the series win, the Green Eagles earn the right to represent Brant at the Ontario Federation of Schools AAAA qualifier for the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association region.
Because of the standoff between the public school teachers union and the government, many high school leagues were not able to complete their schedule. Because of that, CWOSSA declared there would be no champion, but they would host a qualifier for the provincial championships.
In the junior game, the Green Eagles earned their berth into the AAAA OFSAA qualifier for the CWOSSA region thanks to a 44-34 victory over the Lions.
The win gives the Green Eagles a 2-0 sweep in their best-of- three series.
After an explosive 34-point night in Game 1, Adrian Mendoza was contained to a game-high 16 points to lead the way.
In the senior contest, although Assumption got within two points early in the third quarter, St. John's was too much for the young Lions.
"It feels good to win, but at the same time it's a bit strange," Dawson said. "It was nice playing in front of a big crowd in Brantford. But it's not as if we're holding up the city championship trophy. It's still good. It's just weird."
After building a huge halftime lead, Dawson said he and his teammates simply broke down.
"I think we weren't mentally into it like we should," Dawson said. "We didn't have the energy we played with in the first half. We came into the first half going all out. After Game 1, we just wanted to blow it away instead of wait for the end like we had to. We wanted to make a statement in the first half. Unfortunately we didn't keep it going."
But if anything, Dawson said he and his teammates learned a valuable lesson heading into the qualifying tournament.
We have to play each quarter like it's our last,' Dawson said. "If we do that at the tournament, I think we'll have a good chance. I'm hoping we can compete. We can ball with most of the teams. If we play like we did in the first half we can contend."
While the Lions didn't earn a berth because of the defeat, there's plenty of hope for the young group graduating only one player.
"We still have a hope of going," Brandon Vincent said. "The coaches are going to see if there are spots available. If we get another chance, I think we can make some noise."
He said the group, despite the shortened season, has become close, which will bode well for next year.
And that showed during the second half comeback.
"Our coaches were so proud of us for the way we fought back," Vincent said. "We didn't give up hope.
"We're like brothers," he said. "For me it's not done. Next year we'll come back stronger, better, faster, and we'll take our knowledge from this and apply it to something much bigger."
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