Some followers of local high school basketball might be wondering if the Resurrection Phoenix left their "A" game on the sunny beaches of Florida.That's not to take anything away from the Eastwood Rebels, who put forth a dominant performance on Friday evening at Preston High School in Cambridge, but it has been a week to forget for the Rez seniors who were able to survive two close scares (Monsignor Doyle in league and Preston earlier on Friday) before losing to Eastwood.
The Rebels took it at Rez from the opening tip, with grade 11 big man Cham Ujullu establishing himself on the interior alongside some tremendous attacking of the rim by the other Rebels, including Ousmane Kromah.
Ujullu, a raw 6'4" big man who is "improving daily", could be a big factor for the Rebels in WCSSAA play if he can play like he did on Friday, as he finished with a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds).
After a back-and-forth start to the first half, the Rebels went on a late first half run to take a double-digit lead (31-18) to halftime.
It was more of the same in the second half, as Resurrection turned the ball over on a regular basis while Eastwood attacked the rim on the other end. The Rebels opened up a 24-point lead (56-32) with about five minutes to play before Rez closed the gap slightly in the waning minutes for a "respectable looking" 59-44 final. That said, it certainly wasn't as close as the final score would indicate.
Ousmane Kromah sliced-and-diced his way to a 24-point, 7 rebound performance to lead all scorers. Ujullu, as mentioned, contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Mohamed Kromah was also in double-figures with 10 points.
Rounding out the Eastwood scoresheet were contributions from Izzy Nemeth (6), Raymond Ly (3) and Tre Nicholson (2).
Rez was led by Jacob Gilbert, who had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Korbil Gany notched 11, while also scoring for Rez were Patric McGlynn (7), Adam Schneider (6), Thomas Hunter (3), Robel Assefa (3), and Mark Wylie (2).
Boxscore
ECI 31-28 = 59
RCSS 18-26 = 44
Resurrection
A. Schneider 2-7 FG, 1-2 FT, 1 Reb, 2 Ast - 6 Pts.
P. McGlynn 3-5 FG, 0-2 FT, 9 Reb, 2 Ast - 7 Pts.
K. Gany 4-10 FG, 1-1 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 11 Pts.
J. Gilbert 6-13 FG, 0-0 FT, 5 Reb, 0 Ast - 12 Pts.
K. Milio 0-0 FG, 0-2 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
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T. Hunter 1-4 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
Z. Holness 0-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Ast - 0 Pts.
M. Wylie 0-0 FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
N. Snider 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
O. Findlay 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
S. Begy 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
H. Bains 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
R. Assefa 1-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
Field Goals: 17-42 (.404). Free-Throws: 4-9 (.444). Three-Point Goals: 6-22, .272 (K. Gany 2-6, P. McGlynn 1-1, R. Assefa 1-1, A. Schneider 1-4, T. Hunter 1-4, Z. Holness 0-1, J. Gilbert 0-5).
Eastwood
O. Kromah 10-17 FG, 3-4 FT, 7 Reb, 2 Ast - 24 Pts.
I. Nemeth 2-8 FG, 2-3 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 6 Pts.
T. Nicholson 1-7 FG, 0-0 FT, 5 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
C. Ujullu 7-19 FG, 0-1 FT, 11 Reb, 1 Ast - 14 Pts.
M. Kromah 4-10 FG, 2-6 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 10 Pts.
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A. Luzha 0-1 FG, 0-1 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
R. Ly 1-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb,0 Ast - 3 Pts.
H. Rahmani 0-1 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 1 Ast - 0 Pts.
D. Olayemi 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
S. Hage 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 25-64 (.391). Free-Throws: 7-15 (.467). Three-Point Goals: 2-18, .111 (R. Ly 1-1, O. Kromah 1-3, H. Rahmani 0-1, A. Luzha 0-1, T. Nicholson 0-1, C. Ujullu 0-2, M. Kromah 0-3, I. Nemeth 0-5).
