Article By: Rob MasseyGUELPH — With a solid group of returnees, much was expected of the St. James Lions in the District 10 high school senior boys' basketball this season.
However, in the first half of the campaign the Lions always seemed to come up a point or two short when they were playing the other top contenders.
"District 10 is such a great league, such a competitive league," St. James coach Bob Sharpe said.
"Ross is perennially strong and Lourdes always has a good strong team. We knew we had a lot of kids coming back from last year's team and Bishop Mac managed to put things together with the numbers they have and they're an exceptionally hot shooting team. Those four teams are all pretty close and I think we can all beat each other when it comes down to a one-game shot. That's not to negate the other teams in the league. Anybody can beat anybody in one game."
The Lions climbed above the .500 winning mark Thursday when they edged the Lourdes Crusaders 51-47 at Lourdes.
"Lourdes has a very athletic team and they keep coming and keep coming," Sharpe said. "We won by four this game and they won by two the last game. That shows you how close the two teams are. We played well, particularly in the third quarter when we stretched the lead from the first half."
The Lions appeared to have the game in hand, leading by 18 points at the start of the fourth quarter, and then the Crusaders employed their press and the gap fell to the final four-point margin. Lourdes led 15-11 at the end of the first quarter before St. James surged ahead to lead 23-16 at halftime and 39-21 after the third quarter.
"Their pressure gave us some problems," Sharpe said. "We seemed at times to be relieved when we broke the press, but then we get in the front court and turn the ball over."
Erwin Tapino led the Lions with 13 points while Zack McClenaghan had 11 and Joey Hasson added 10.
Andrew Chapman had a game-high 14 points for Lourdes while Kevin Roche and David Khayipangi netted 10 apiece.
Bishop Mac and Ross are tied atop the league at 8-1 while Lourdes is third at 7-2 and St. James fourth at 5-4.
Ross 73 Guelph CVI 22
Ryan Stulp and Tommy Yanchus hit for 14 points apiece for Ross while Andrew Folkerson chipped in with 12. Spencer Swan had six for GCVI while Tyler Beaton had five and Justin Hopkins four.
Bishop Macdonell 66 Centre Wellington 52
Adam MacEachern's 24 points topped Bishop Mac's scoring list while Jesse Kendall had 23. Ty Uhrig had 17 for Centre Wellington while James Scott collected 16.
D10 Jr. Boys Basketball
St. James 56 Lourdes 50
Keegan Feeney hit for 19 points for St. James while Nick Marquis had 14. James Gerstenkorn led Lourdes with 15 while 12 went to Alex Arguelles.
Orangeville 72 Centennial 66
David Anderson gathered 20 points for Orangeville while Eric Kornack had 11. Jasmer Brar struck for 33 for Centennial while Andy Ly added 12.
Ross 56 Guelph CVI 35
Curtis Gordon's 18 points led Ross while Mengis Hiyabu had 15. GCVI received 10 from Lincoln Rosebush and eight from Kevin Duong.
Centre Wellington 56 Bishop Macdonell 45
Nathan Scott had 27 points for Centre Wellington while Graham Vilmot contributed nine. Greg MacEachern led Bishop Mac with 11 while Noah Slater and Mateo Stradiotto gathered eight apiece.
