Saturday, February 26thArticle By: Rob Massey
GUELPH — For the second time in a week, the Bishop Macdonell Celtics swept the senior and junior titles at a high school boys’ basketball tournament.
The Celtics won the unofficial CWOSSA AA titles in a championship doubleheader Friday night at Lourdes. Last weekend, Bishop Mac won the District 10 crowns in both senior and junior.
Bishop Mac took the senior final 57-47 over the Centre Dufferin Royals, the D4 champions from Shelburne.
“We’ve been preparing all year for two games,” Bishop Mac coach Marty Kendall said. “We’ve been preparing for Centennial (D10 final opponent) and Centre Dufferin. Every drill, every practice, everything, our end goal in mind was to prepare for these teams.”
The Celtics won an all-Guelph junior final 41-34 over the host Lourdes Crusaders in a rematch of the D10 final.
The senior final was Bishop Mac’s toughest game of the tournament, although Lourdes gave them a good go (53-33) in the semifinal. In the opening day Thursday, the Celtics defeated Norwell 101-34 and Owen Sound St. Mary’s 93-20.
“It wasn’t much competition (Thursday),” Bishop Mac’s Jesse Kendall said. “But today was great. Lourdes gave us a great game and this is a blast, this game.”
“It’s tough on those teams and it’s tough for us to play those teams and it doesn’t prepare us for a game like this,” coach Kendall said after the final. “Thankfully, Lourdes helped us today. Lourdes played a very good game against us this afternoon and helped sharpen us up a little bit.”
In the final, Centre Dufferin wouldn’t go away. The Celtics led 18-10 at the end of the first quarter, 32-27 at the half and 43-37 after the third quarter.
Jesse Kendall led Bishop Mac with 23 points while Mitchell Wood and Mike Ganson added nine apiece.
“I took what was open and they fell for me today,” Jesse Kendall said.
Marco Zanette led Centre Dufferin with 27 points while Doug Costanzo had 10.
In the semifinal against Lourdes, Bishop Mac held quarter leads of 16-12, 30-21 and 46-27. Wood had 16 points for the Celtics while Kendall added 14. Kevin Roche led Lourdes with 12 points while Andrew Chapman collected seven.
Centre Dufferin hits 11 three-pointers in their semifinal win over Norwell. Marco Zanette collected 19 points while Dan Craig and Dhruv Patel had 13 apiece and Doug Costanzo had 12.
Bishop Mac advances to the OFSAA championship tournament at Richmond Hill and Markham March 4-6.
“We’ve had three very distinct goals all year — D10, CWOSSA or the OFSAA qualifier and now OFSAA,” coach Kendall said.
The junior final was a replay of the D10 junior final, close throughout with Bishop Mac getting a slim win.
Lourdes led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter before the Celtics rallied to lead 32-27 at the half and 43-37 after three quarters.
“We’ve just been fortunate to nip them at the right time at the end of the games,” Bishop Mac coach Dennis Morris said.
Lukas Wood collected 13 points for Bishop Mac while Jack Morris and Evan Hosker each had 10. Alex Hudecki and Craig Valeriote each had nine for Lourdes while Sean Gade added seven.
The game was the fifth meeting between Bishop Mac and Lourdes this season.
“There’s no secrets,” coach Morris said. “They know what to do, we know what to do. It’s just play hard and play good basketball because there’s no surprises. We’ve seen each other so much. We know exactly what their strengths are and they know what ours are. We’ve just been fortunate with a couple of bounces that have gone our way.”
Jake Chaput and Hosker each had 10 points in Bishop Mac’s 41-27 win over Norwell in the semifinals.
Lourdes defeated Centre Dufferin 75-38 in the other semifinal. Hudecki had 26 points and Valeriote gathered 13.
As the tournaments were unofficial CWOSSA events, no championship plaques were awarded.
“The kids got to have their picture taken, but there was nothing there for them to hang onto,” coach Kendall said. “It felt a little odd.”
Retrieved From: http://www.guelphmercury.com/sports/highschool/article/892082--bishop-mac-sweeps-another-hoops-tournament
