Entering September, I had the Bishop Macdonell Celtics pegged as one of my teams to watch in junior boys' CWOSSA basketball.However, the Celtics have moved up three (yes, three) key grade 10 players to their senior roster, which should cause some short-term growing pains for a revamped junior unit. Those growing pains were evident on Tuesday afternoon in Orangeville, where the Bears knocked off the Celts by a 62-58 final score.
In doing so, the Bears won a D10 regular season game for the first time since the 2010-11 season, ending a 37-game league losing streak in the process.
Luke Wouters (12) and Nigel Carey-Kochan (10) were the high Orangeville scorers, while Noah Slater had 12 and Jack Olson 11 for the Celtics.
In other D10 junior action on Tuesday, St. James won the battle of East Guelph, getting past JF Ross 51-46.
Keegan Feeney had a game-high 19 for the Lions, with Nick Marquis adding 9; Curtis Gordon put home 14 and Adam Dingwall 7 for the Royals.
Lourdes, meanwhile, started their season off on a winning note with a 56-44 win against rival Guelph CVI. James Gerstenkorn (18) and Sean Gade (16) did most of the offensive damage for the Crusaders, while Mano Mathivanan had 13 and Kevin Duong 9 for the Gaels.
D10 Senior
Two games were on the D10 senior schedule on Tuesday, and we'll start with the closer of the two with JF Ross holding off St. James at home by a 45-44 final score. Kristian Vande Kemp (15) and Mo Hussein (9) paced the Royals there, while St. James was led by Mitch Marquis (9), Joey Hasson (8) and Quinn Feeney (8).
The other senior game saw Bishop Mac take care of Orangeville 80-39. Jesse Kendall had a game-high 18 points for the Celts, with Deysean Thompson netting 14 for ODSS.
