Last year's top team in CWOSSA, the SJAM Highlanders, lost a couple of key pieces to their senior team but still showed that there's a lot of talent left on their roster as they went 4-0 this past weekend to take the title at the Resurrection Junior Boys' Tip-off Tournament.The championship finale was a thrilling 81-74 victory over Resurrection that saw a little bit of everything.
Rez raced to an early double-digit lead, which the Highlanders cut to 8 (37-29) at halftime. A hot-shooting third quarter allowed SJAM to tie things up entering the fourth, where they continued their strong offensive performance en route to a late 9-point lead with 2:00 to go.
To their credit, Resurrection didn't give up and played the "foul game", where they were able to eventually get things to within 2 points on an Alexis Garcia three-pointer and :35 left on the clock. However, that was as close as they'd get as SJAM converted five more free throws in the final seconds to round out the scoring.
In a game that took nearly two hours to complete, free throws were certainly a common characteristic of this one. SJAM actually attempted 52 (yes, 52!) free throws, making 33 of them.
In total, five Resurrection players, and one SJAM Highlander, fouled out.
Devon Gallivan led the way for SJAM with a 20-point performance, while Karan Heer added 17. Kiern Lack-Shane (11) and Justin Hardy (10) were also in double-figures.
Rez received a double-double (23 points + 10 rebounds) from Muyang Iluya, while Ali Rashid contributed 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Prince Dang was also in double-figures for Rez with 10 points.
The final standings of the round-robin tournament went as follows:
1. SJAM 4-0
2. Resurrection 3-1
3. Bluevale 2-2
4. Eastwood 1-3
5. Huron Heights 0-4
Tournament All-Star Team
Justin Hardy, SJAM
Devon Gallivan, SJAM
Ali Rashid, Resurrection
Muyang Iluya, Resurrection
Prince Dang, Resurrection
Romy Simpson, Eastwood
Ahmed Kanu, Eastwood
Greg Smith, Bluevale
Matt Wyman, Bluevale
Kuel Thomas, Huron Heights
Ben Jenkins, Huron Heights
