AAA OFSAA: Guelph St. James Seeded #8 in 16-Team Field

The St. James Lions are seeded #8 in the 16-team "AAA" OFSAA field next week in Welland.

The Lions, making their first OFSAA appearance in 15 years (1999), will be taking on #14 seeded Anderson CVI of Whitby in the opening round, followed by either #3 Saltfleet or #9 Senator O'Connor in round two.

The full seeding is as follows:

(1) Catholic Central, Windsor
(2) Notre Dame, Welland
(3) Saltfleet, Hamilton
(4) Martingrove, Toronto
(5) St. Theresa's, Midland
(6) St. Mary's, Hamilton
(7) St Patrick's, Ottawa
(8) St. James, Guelph
(9) Senator O'Connor, Toronto
(10) Catholic Central, London
(11) Western Tech, Toronto
(12) Frontenac, Kingston
(13) St. Augustine, Markham
(14) Anderson, Whitby
(15) Superior Heights, Sault Ste. Marie
(16) Centennial, Belleville

AA OFSAA: Celtics Seeded 12th

Count me among those that were suprised to see the Bishop Macdonell Celtics get a #12 seed at the 2014 "AA" OFSAA championships.

Personally, I had Bishop Mac, a #4 seed and last year's bronze medalists (albeit without the full contingent of public participants), somewhere in the upper single digits --- albeit with my CWOSSA bias. 

The Celts also don't get any benefit from that seeding, as their first game is against the top-seeded team in the event, Merivale SS from Ottawa, who had a nice run at the Silver Fox tournament a couple of weeks ago.

Of course, the Celtics are arguably the hottest team in CWOSSA right now, so it will be interesting to see if they can spring an upset in one of their games.

Full seeding:
#1 Merivale (Ottawa) - NCSSAA
#2 Ascension (Mississauga) - GHAC/ROPSSAA
#3 St. Francis (St. Catherines) - SOSSA
#4 St. Andrew's College (Aurora) - CISAA
#5 Korah (Sault Ste. Marie) - NOSSA
#6 Vaughan Road Academy (Toronto) - TDSSAA
#7 LaSalle (Kingston) - ESOSSAA
#8 Denis O'Connor (Ajax) - LOSSA
#9 Stratford Central - WOSSAA
#10 James Cardinal McGuigan (Toronto) - TDCAA
#11 Welland Centennial - SOSSA
#12 Bishop Macdonell (Guelph) - CWOSSA
#13 Essex District - SWOSSAA
#14 Twin Lakes (Orillia) - GBSSA
#15 Holy Cross (Peterborough) - COSSA
#16 Timmins - NEOAA
#17 Sir Winston Churchill (Thunder Bay) - NWOSSAA
#18 Perth District - EOSSAA

AAAA OFSAA: St. Mary's Seeded 11th, Cameron Heights 13th

The St. Mary's Eagles are seeded 11th and the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels 13th in a deep 18-team field at the OFSAA "AAAA" championships next week in Mississauga.

Another team that I don't cover (as they are a CISAA team) but fall within the CWOSSA boundary in Breslau, St. John Kilmarnock, is the #16 seed.

The full seeding is as follows:

1. St. Mike's (Toronto)
2. Henry Carr (Etobicoke)
3. D'Youville (Brampton)
4. Eastern Commerce (Toronto)
5. Oakwood (Toronto)
6. Vaughan
7. Pine Ridge (Ajax)
8. MacNab (Hamilton)
9. Cardinal Newman (Stoney Creek)
10. Notre Dame (Brampton)
11. St. Mary's
12. Mother Teresa (Scarborough)
13. Cameron Heights
14. HB Beal (London)
15. St. Patrick's (Sarnia)
16. St. John's-Kilmarnock (Breslau)
17. Glebe (Ottawa)
18. Innisdale (Barrie)

St. Mary's will take on #2 Henry Carr in their first game, scheduled for Monday at 2:30pm (at Philip Pocock in Mississauga).  Cameron Heights, meanwhile, takes on #7 Pine Ridge in their opener (12:45pm, Mount Carmel).

The highest ever seed given to a CWOSSA team at the "AAAA" tournament was a #6 seed to the KCI Raiders at the 2006 championships (they would lose by 3 in the QFs to the eventual gold medalists, Mother Teresa), while the best result by a CWOSSA team was an antique bronze medal by the SJAM Highlanders in 2007 --- when they were a #13 seed.

OFSAA "AAAA" has been around since 2002.

If you'd like to see the full draw, it's posted here.

Three CWOSSA Teams in "Ontario Junior Boys Classic Tournament"

Three CWOSSA teams --- Kitchener St. Mary's, Waterloo SJAM and Kitchener Resurrection --- will be participating in this weekend's "Ontario Junior Boys Classic Tournament", hosted by Bill Crothers SS in Unionville.

This is the first year for the tournament, whose goal is to provide an "OFSAA-style experience" to junior-aged players.

Of note, the tournament allows teams to play junior-aged players from their senior teams, meaning that SJAM's starting senior PG Simon Petrov is eligible for the tournament, as is Resurrection starting senior SG Korbil Gany.  Added players are factored in to the seeding for the tournament.

All three teams are in the top half of the seedings for the 24-team tournament.  St. Mary's is seeded 4th, SJAM 9th, and Resurrection 11th.

Here's the full seeding list, with CWOSSA teams in bold:

1.  St. Augustine - Brampton
2.  Vaughan SS
3.  St. Michael's College - Toronto
4.  St. Mary's - Kitchener
5.  Bill Crothers - Unionville
6.  St. Roch - Brampton
7.  Sinclair SS - Whitby
8.  HB Beal - London
9.  SJAM - Waterloo
10.  Massey SS - Windsor
11.  Resurrection - Kitchener
12.  Emery CI - Toronto
13.  Cardinal Newman - Stoney Creek
14.  Pickering HS
15.  St. Joseph's - St. Thomas
16.  St. Francis Xavier - Mississauga
17.  J. Clarke Richardson - Ajax
18.  Jean Vanier - Toronto
19.  Thornlea - Thornhill
20.  Cardinal Ambrozic - Brampton
21.  Mother Teresa - Scarborough
22.  Lester B. Pearson - Toronto
23.  Francis Libermann - Toronto
24.  Bur Oak SS - Markham

The tournament starts with 8 pools of three teams, before moving on to a 16-team bracketed draw.

For starters, St. Mary's is in "Pool D" with #12 Emery of Toronto and #21 Mother Teresa of Scarborough.

SJAM will be in a pool with #1 St. Augustine and #24 Bur Oak of Markham, while Resurrection will tip-off against two Toronto schools --- #3 St. Michael's College and #22 Lester B. Pearson.

AAAA Senior Final: Sutton Steps Up in Eagle Win

The absence of starting guard Jermaine Lyle (ankle) provided a great opportunity for Avery Sutton.

Sutton, a fifth-year guard, took advantage of said opportunity, scoring a game-high 19 points in the CWOSSA "AAAA" championship final, a 65-52 St. Mary's victory over Kitchener Cameron Heights.

The win was St. Mary's second consecutive "official" CWOSSA championship (they were also victorious in last year's unofficial tournament).

It didn't necessarily come easy for the Eagles, though.

Earlier in the day on Monday, St. Mary's punched their OFSAA ticket with a hard-fought 64-56 win over Kitchener Grand River, a game that was within 3 points with :30 to play.

Sutton was a big factor in that one too, as he contributed 14 points alongside 22 from Tesloth Simon.  Chuder Teny (16) and David Bajic (14) led the Rens.

As for the championship final, it was certainly a "game of runs".

St. Mary's struck first, with an 8-0 first quarter run to take a 16-11 lead, before Sasha Simic stuck a three at the end of the frame for a 16-14 Eagle lead after one.

The teams would trade baskets in the second quarter, which would end 28-26 in favour of the Eagles.

A 15-9 Cameron Heights spurt in the third quarter gave them a four-point lead, which was quickly erased by the Eagles with an 8-0 run of their own, giving them a 4-point edge heading into the final quarter.

After leading by 6 midway through the fourth, the Eagles gradually extended their lead with solid execution down the stretch to a 65-52 final.  Needless to say, it was certainly closer than the final score would indicate.

Tyrick Thompson and Tesloth Simon both contributed 15 points alongside Sutton's 19, while Sasha Simic (18), Jackie Do (11) and Ivan Cucak (10) were all in double-figures for Cameron.

Both teams are through to next week's "AAAA" OFSAA championships in Mississauga.  St. Mary's will be making their third straight OFSAA appearance, while the Gaels are headed to the provincial stage for the second time in the last four years.

AAAA Junior Final: St. Mary's Continues D8 Dominance

The St. Mary's Eagles made it back-to-back "official" CWOSSA championships, and took home D8's 5th "AAAA" junior title in the last 6 tries, by coming from behind to defeat the WCI Vikings 60-45 yesterday evening in Brantford.

It definitely didn't come easy for the Eagles, who entered the CWOSSA tournament as strong favourites.

After dropping their second-round game against WCI (74-67), the Eagles first had to play a semifinal game on Monday morning against Guelph JF Ross, which they would win by a 76-42 count.

This advanced them to Monday evening's final against WCI, where the game started ominously for Eagle fans in attendance.

St. Mary's did a better job containing Viking star Aaron Grubb, who scored 40 against SMHS on Saturday, but Griffin Floto had a huge first half --- scoring 15 points --- as WCI took a double-digit second quarter lead (30-19) before the Eagles closed to within 8 (31-23) at half.

The second half, though, was all Eagles.

St. Mary's cranked up the defensive intensity, and capitalized on several WCI turnovers, going on a 16-5 run (39-36) before a buzzer-beating three-pointer put them up six (42-36) heading to the fourth quarter.

Hot shooting from would continue in the fourth quarter as the Eagles extended to a double-digit lead late in the fourth.  St. Mary's led by only 7 (48-41) before two backbreaking back-to-back three pointers by David Nguyen gave St. Mary's a more comfortable 13-point margin with just over 2:00 left on the clock.

Nguyen finished the day with a game-high 24 points, including six three pointers.  Grade nine guard Daniel Douse added 11 for the Eagles, while Aaron Grubb had 19 and Griffin Floto 17 for WCI.

The Vikes, who managed their second CWOSSA junior silver medal in five seasons, were arguably the most improved CWOSSA team between November and February, a fact that St. Mary's quickly realized after their defeat on Saturday.

"We came into this tournament thinking we were going to win every game but WCI woke us up," Nguyen told The Record's Mark Bryson after the game.

St. Mary's will be one of three CWOSSA teams participating in a 24-team "Ontario Junior Basketball Classic" OFSAA-style tournament this weekend in Unionville.

AA CWOSSA: Bishop Mac Seniors, Lourdes Juniors Continue D10 Dominance

Bishop Mac Seniors With their Hardware

Another year, another couple of CWOSSA "AA" titles for D10 teams.

Two Guelph schools, the Our Lady of Lourdes Crusaders (juniors) and the Bishop Macdonell Celtics (seniors) were both victorious in yesterday's "AA" CWOSSA finals held in Simcoe.

This marked the 9th time in 10 years that a D10 school has taken home the CWOSSA crown.  The lone exceptions to the rule were an upstart team from John Diefenbaker in Hanover (Junior, 2007) and the Owen Sound CVI senior team in 2010.

Neither championship final was ever really in doubt.

After having a close game with Saugeen DSS (50-42) during the preliminary round, the Crusaders held the Royals to just 22 points in the rematch, a 48-22 Lourdes victory.

On the senior side, Bishop Macdonell more than doubled up on finalist Owen Sound CVI, 77-35.  The Celtics will be making their 7th trip to the "AA" OFSAA championships in the past 9 years, where they will enter as the defending bronze medalists.

In junior semifinal action, Lourdes knocked off hosts Simcoe Composite 44-27, while Saugeen got revenge on BAA rivals Owen Sound St. Mary's, 47-38.  St. Mary's had defeated Saugeen in last week's BAA junior title game.

On the senior side, Owen Sound had to battle back from a 23-17 halftime deficit to Brantford Pauline Johnson, only taking their first lead with 5:00 to go in the fourth quarter.  A big surge at the end of that one had them winning going away, 46-33 the final.

Bishop Macdonell had no trouble disposing of my fiancées alma mater, Norwell DSS from Palmerston.  The Redmen managed just 3 first half points (42-3 Bishop Mac at halftime) in an 81-12 Celtic rout.

"AA" OFSAA goes in Perth next week.

AAA Senior Final: St. James 50, St. John's 41

For the first time in 15 years, the St. James Lions are CWOSSA Senior Boys' champions.

The Lions, whose last CWOSSA title was in 1999 (the year that they also won OFSAA with a starting lineup that featured two NCAA D1 players and two CIS players), defeated Brantford St. John's 50-41 in the "AAA" CWOSSA final yesterday evening at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Guelph.

The Lions were stifling on defense through the first two and a half quarters, holding the Green Eagles to just 21 points (39-21 St. James) midway through the third.

A 15-4 Green Eagle run, though, made this one a game early in the fourth but St. John's was unable to make any further headway by the final buzzer.

In semifinal action earlier in the day on Monday, St. James topped Kitchener CI (46-36) while the Green Eagles got past a tough Galt Collegiate squad, 46-41.

With the win, the Lions will make an appearance at the "AAA" OFSAA tournament next week in Welland.

AAA Junior Final: St. James 86, St. David 67

In the most important game of the season, the "big three" of the St. James Lions were at their best.

Keegan Feeney, Nick Marquis, and Alex Durigon combined for 73 points as the Lions took home the "AAA" CWOSSA junior crown last night at Our Lady of Lourdes High School, 86-67 over Waterloo St. David.

The win marks "back to back" official CWOSSA titles for the Lions, who were also junior champions in 2012.

The game was a rematch of last year's "unofficial" CWOSSA final, and, like last year's game (won by St. David 79-52), there were certainly no shortage of points put up on the scoreboard.

The Lions actually put up 22 points in the first quarter and 49 points in the first half, but were unable to totally shake the Celtics who managed 38 of their own in the opening sixteen minutes.

St. James extended their lead to 16 after three quarters, and, after St. David had cut the lead to 12 midway through the final frame, the Lions were able to gradually pull away down the stretch.  

Feeney finished with an impressive 36-point performance, while Marquis added 19 and Durigon scored 18. 

St. David also had three players in double-figures:  Mason Cumming (24), John McElroy (19) and Brent Lasovich (11).

Semifinals were played earlier in the day on Monday, with St. James cruising past Cambridge Preston HS 63-34, and St. David topping Cambridge Jacob Hespeler 49-39.

CWOSSA Updates - Monday

AA:  Semifinals
Junior:  Lourdes 44, Simcoe 27
Junior:  Saugeen DSS 47, St. Mary's (OS) 38

Final:  @ Simcoe CS - Lourdes vs. Saugeen DSS

Senior:  Owen Sound 46, Pauline Johnson 33
Senior:  Bishop Mac 81, Norwell 12

Final:  @ Simcoe CS - Owen Sound vs. Bishop Mac

AAA:  Semifinals
Junior:  St. David 49, Jacob Hespeler 39
Junior:  St. James 63, Preston HS 34

Final:  5pm @ Lourdes - St. David vs. St. James

Senior:  St. James 46, KCI 36
Senior:  St. John's 46, Galt CI 41

Final:  6:30pm @ Lourdes:  St. James vs. St. John's

AAAA:  Semifinals
Junior:  St. Mary's 76, JF Ross 42

Final:  5:30pm @ ACS - St. Mary's vs. Waterloo CI

Senior:  St. Mary's 64, Grand River 56
SMHS:  Tesloth Simon 22
GRCI:  Chuder Teny 16

Final:  7pm @ ACS - St. Mary's vs. Cameron Heights

CWOSSA "AA": Semifinals & Finals Go Today

Over in Simcoe, the "AA" CWOSSA junior and senior tournament will conclude today with semifinal and final action.

The tournament was pushed to today from Friday due to inclement weather.

Here's a look at the scores from Friday:

Junior Pool A
St. Mary's (OS) 45, Centre Dufferin 27
Simcoe CS 44, Centre Dufferin 35
St. Mary's (OS) 46, Simcoe 42

St. Mary's (OS) 2-0
Simcoe 1-1
CDDHS 0-2

Junior Pool B
Lourdes 50, Saugeen 42
Saugeen 43, Paris DHS 33
Lourdes 60, Paris 35

Lourdes 2-0
Saugeen 1-1
Paris 0-2

Semifinals Today:  Saugeen vs. St. Mary's (OS); Lourdes vs. Simcoe

Senior Pool A
OSCVI 57, Norwell 41
Norwell 58, Simcoe 30
OSCVI 64, Simcoe 31

OSCVI 2-0
Norwell 1-1
Simcoe 0-2

Senior Pool B
Bishop Mac 87, St. Mary's (OS) 34
Pauline Johnson 66, St. Mary's (OS) 36
Bishop Mac 73, Pauline Johnson 38

Bishop Mac 2-0
Pauline Johnson 1-1
St. Mary's (OS) 0-2

Semifinals Today:  Bishop Mac vs. Norwell; OSCVI vs. Pauline Johnson

AAAA Senior: Gaels Clinch OFSAA Berth; Rens Rally Past Eagles in OT

Photo by Sean Allen / Brant News

Sure, it's only 4 teams this year, but what the CWOSSA AAAA senior tournament lacked in participants it made up for in excitement on Saturday afternoon and evening in Brantford.

It started with the Grand River Renegades rallying from a 6-point deficit with under one minute to play to force overtime against the St. Mary's Eagles, where the Rens would pull out a 71-68 victory.

Chuder Teny (30) and Ahamed Ali (17) led the Renegades, while Tyrick Thompson had 27 and Tesloth Simon 17 for St. Mary's.

In the other first-round game, the JF Ross Royals lost Ryan Stulp to an ankle injury in the first quarter of their game against Cameron Heights, but hung with the Golden Gaels before falling 55-48.

With the new format, first-round losers would play each other (in an elimination game) with the winner advancing to the semifinal.  First round winners would also play each other, with the winner advancing to the final and the loser assuming a spot in the semifinal.

In the elimination game, St. Mary's jumped out to a 34-17 lead at halftime against JF Ross and didn't look back, posting a 66-43 win.  Tesloth Simon (16) and Tyrick Thompson (14) paced the way for St. Mary's, while Kristian Vande Kemp had 20 for JF Ross.

The game for an OFSAA berth was a rematch of the WCSSAA finals (CHCI vs. GRCI) played just three days prior.

Just like the WCSSAA final, both teams traded blows, with the Rens striking first.  They used an 8-0 run to start the 2nd quarter en route to a 30-24 halftime lead, only to see Cameron Heights use an 8-0 run of their own in the 3rd quarter to tie things up at 41-41 --- ironically, the same score that the WCSSAA final was after three quarters --- heading to the 4th.

With the score 54-49 and just under one minute left in the game, Grand River coach Tolly Henderson picked up a second technical foul and was ejected from the game.  With no assistant coach to replace him on the bench, Grand River was forced to forfeit.

With the win, Cameron Heights secures a spot in "AAAA" OFSAA next month as well as a berth in Monday night's CWOSSA final (7pm at Assumption College in Brantford).

Grand River will take on St. Mary's (noon today) for the other OFSAA berth and a shot at a CWOSSA title.

AAAA Junior: Grubb's 40 Helps Vikes Knock Off Eagles

The WCI Vikings are one win away from a CWOSSA AAAA junior title.

The Vikings did something no CWOSSA team outside of the D8 league has done this year, beating the St. Mary's Eagles in a 74-67 thriller on Saturday evening in Brantford.

Aaron Grubb scored 40 points, the highest registered total by a CWOSSA player this season, which included a 20-for-21 performance from the free-throw line.

The Vikings jumped out to a 22-6 lead, only to see St. Mary's gradually cut into the deficit --- cutting things down as far as 64-61 with 3:00 to go, and then 68-67 with 1:00 left.  However, timely makes by Grubb down the stretch (he was 10-for-10 in the fourth quarter from the line) helped to seal the win.

Adham Eleeda picked up 22 points for the Eagles in the loss. 

St. Mary's did not have starting PG Minas Abara in the lineup on Saturday, and his status for today's semifinal (and possibly final) is still in doubt.

Earlier on Saturday, WCI again used a strong first quarter surge (22-4) to take care of Guelph JF Ross 63-46.  Griffin Floto (15), Shanif Hirani (12) and Adam Piazza (12) were all in double-figures for WCI, while Adam Dingwall had 9 for the Royals.

St. Mary's led 40-15 at the half versus Grand River and cruised to a 64-39 win.  David Nguyen and Jason Jaros had 15 each for the Eagles, while Aleks Cvrkalj (16) and Jake Zuzan (11) were the top Renegades.

JF Ross eliminated Grand River later on Saturday in a 56-54 game.  Dingwall had 15 to pace the Royals, while Cvrkalj netted 24 for the Rens.

Today's semifinal will see JF Ross take on St. Mary's, with the winner playing WCI later today at Brantford Assumption for the CWOSSA "AAAA" junior title (5:30pm).

AAA CWOSSA Results

Semifinals are set for today in the "AAA" CWOSSA tournament which will still be played at Our Lady of Lourdes in Guelph today due to the roof leak at St. James from last week.

There were no major surprises on the senior side of things, with the top ranked teams in the event --- St. James & St. John's --- posting 2-0 records.

St. James will take on KCI in one of the semifinals today, while St. John's will battle Galt Collegiate in the other.

On the junior side, Pool "B" provided the most intrigue from the opening day of action.  Interestingly enough, it was the lone league champion (North Park) who finished 0-2 in the pool, while St. David won both games to top the division at 2-0.

Junior semifinals today will see St. David take on Jacob Hespeler, and St. James battle Preston HS.


Junior - Pool A
Jacob Hespeler 48, Westside 32
St. James 62, Westside 40
St. James 69, Jacob Hespeler 39

1.  St. James 2-0
2.  Jacob Hespeler 1-1
3.  Westside 0-2

Junior - Pool B
St. David 39, North Park 35
St. David 45, Preston 32
Preston 48, North Park 43

1.  St. David 2-0
2.  Preston 1-1
3.  North Park 0-2

Senior - Pool A
Galt 79, West Hill 33
St. James 75, West Hill 21
St. James 68, Galt 60

1.  St. James 2-0
2.  Galt 1-1
3.  West Hill 0-2

Senior - Pool B
KCI 49, Mons. Doyle 48
St. John's 53, KCI 50
St. John's 83, Mons. Doyle 36

1.  St. John's 2-0
2.  KCI 1-1
3.  Mons. Doyle 0-2

Brant News: Senior Green Eagles in CWOSSA Semifinals

By:  Sean Allen

The St. John's College Green Eagles senior boys basketball team swept their way into the semifinals of the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA tournament in Guelph on Monday.
                          

The Green Eagles scored a 53-50 victory over the Kitchener Collegiate Raiders in the morning on Saturday and proceed to romp the Monsignor Doyle Catholic Mustangs 83-36 in the evening.

                          

The games were moved to Guelph's Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School following a leak in

the roof at St. James Catholic High School.

                          

Our Lady of Lourdes is where the Green Eagles will face the Galt Collegiate Ghosts at 1:30 p.m. with a berth to the 7 p.m. championship on the line.

                          

The Green Eagles will have to contain Ghosts top scorer T.J. Lall, who has topped 40 points on occasion this season.

                          

The junior Trojans bowed out of CWOSSA, losing both of their preliminary games on Saturday.

                          

They lost 48-43 to the Preston High School Panthers in the morning and, despite leading the game early, dropped a 39-35 decision to the St. David Catholic Secondary School Celtics in the evening.

 

Retrieved From: http://www.brantnews.com/sports-story/4381503-senior-green-eagles-in-cwossa-semis/

 

 

AAA & AAAA CWOSSA Updates

Please check my Twitter Page for timely updates from today's action.

AAAA games are at Assumption College in Brantford; AAA senior games are at Lourdes and junior AAA games are at St. Ignatius in Guelph.

BREAKING: AAA Senior Location Moved Due to Roof Leak

AAA CWOSSA Senior games scheduled for tomorrow (February 22nd) at St. James High School are being moved due to a leak in the roof that just occurred today.

Games will now be played at:
Our Lady of Lourdes CHS (54 Westmount Rd., Guelph).

Junior games at St. Ignatius are unaffected.

Also, Monday games remain at St. James until further notice.

"AAAA" CWOSSA Schedule + Preview Comments

It's the first "official" year for the 4-team CWOSSA "AAAA" tournament --- and what a field it is on the senior side.

In fact, the four teams represented --- St. Mary's, JF Ross, Grand River & Cameron Heights --- have generally been in my CWOSSA rankings as the top four senior teams for most of the season.

On the junior side, St. Mary's, who survived the extremely competitive D8 junior circuit (over top 3 CWOSSA teams St. Benedict and Resurrection), enter as the favourite to take home the title, with the WCI Vikings -- fresh off their WCSSAA title -- looking like their primary challenger.

Junior Teams - AAAA
St. Mary's (Kitchener)
Waterloo CI (Waterloo)
JF Ross (Guelph)
Grand River (Kitchener)

Senior Teams - AAAA
St. Mary's (Kitchener)
JF Ross (Guelph)
Cameron Heights (Kitchener)
Grand River (Kitchener)

Here's a link to the junior schedule and one to the senior schedule.

Junior - Saturday Games (at Brantford Assumption)
9am:  WCI vs. JF Ross

10:30am:  St. Mary's vs. Grand River

3:30pm:  Losers of First Two Games (Winner to Semi; Loser Eliminated)

5:00pm:  Winners of First Two Games (Winner to Final; Loser to Semifinal)

Monday - Semifinal 10:30am, Final 5pm.

Senior - Saturday Games (at Brantford Assumpion)
Noon:  St. Mary's vs. Grand River

1:30pm:  JF Ross vs. Cameron Heights

6:30pm:  Losers of First Two Games (Winner to Semi; Loser Eliminated)

8:00pm:  Winners of First Two Games (Winner to Final + OFSAA Berth; Loser to Semifinal)

Monday - Semifinal Noon; Final 7pm.

Junior Comments/Predictions
The St. Mary's Eagles certainly enter this one as a favourite, but, with being the favourite certainly comes the pressure of expectations.

There's also a question surrounding the status of starting PG Minas Abara, who injured his ankle in the D8 final.  Although the Eagles have some depth to their roster, it would still certainly be a big loss for St. Mary's.

WCI, meanwhile, is fresh off a WCSSAA title and might be a bit sharper than St. Mary's (given the Eagles' 1+ week lay-off since the D8 final).  It would certainly be a surprise if WCI and St. Mary's didn't make the junior final, but JF Ross and Grand River will be looking to spoil the party.

Predictions
WCI over JF Ross
St. Mary's over Grand River

St. Mary's over WCI (SMHS to final; WCI to SF)
Grand River over JF Ross (GRCI to SF)

Semifinal:  WCI over Grand River

Final:  St. Mary's over WCI

Senior Comments/Predictions
Like the junior Eagles, the senior St. Mary's squad comes into this tournament with some injury questions; floor general Jermaine Lyle did not play in the D8 championship final and he definitely makes St. Mary's a better team when he's out on the floor, particuarly on the defensive end.

Grand River will also be hoping to be at 100% physically for the tournament; guards Murtada Khamis and Miro Iliev have both been injured over the past week or so --- Iliev looked to be back at full strength at the WCSSAA final, but Khamis missed a large portion of the game with an ankle injury.  Of course, with a CWOSSA title and OFSAA berths on the line, I don't expect him to miss any action.

Cameron Heights is coming off one of the best all-around quarters of CWOSSA basketball, a dominating fourth-quarter performance that helped them capture the WCSSAA final.  They'll be seeking their second CWOSSA title in the past four years.

Guelph JF Ross, meanwhile, is certainly the darkhorse of the tournament.  They do have a win over Grand River to their credit, and probably have the most bench depth of the teams in the tournament.  Coach Bill Price always seems to get the most out of his team at CWOSSA (reference some "upsets" in the past five years), so don't be surprised to see them make a run.

Predictions
St. Mary's over Grand River
Cameron Heights over JF Ross

St. Mary's over Cameron Hts. (SMHS to final; CHCI to SF)
Grand River over JF Ross (GRCI to SF)

Semifinal:  Cameron Heights over Grand River

Championship Final:  St. Mary's over Cameron Heights

"AAA" CWOSSA Schedule + Preview Comments

Here's a look at the teams and schedule for the "AAA" CWOSSA championships, which will be contested tomorrow and Monday in Guelph.

Tomorrow's action takes place at St. James (senior) and St. Ignatius (junior). 

Junior Teams
Westside SS (Orangeville)
North Park (Brantford)
St. James (Guelph)
Preston (Cambridge) - WCSSAA #1
Jacob Hespeler (Preston) - WCSSAA #2
St. David (Waterloo)

Senior Teams
Westhill (Owen Sound)
St. John's (Brantford)
St. James (Guelph)
KCI (Kitchener) - WCSSAA #1
Galt (Cambridge) - WCSSAA #2
Monsignor Doyle (Cambridge)

The draw has been posted on the CWOSSA website (here's a link).

Pool A:  WCSSAA #1, D10 #1, D1/7 or D4
Pool B:  D5 #1, WCSSAA #2, D8

Of note - my apologies to the tournament organizers who clarified that, despite the WCSSAA playoff seed of KCI (SR) and PHS (JR) being better than Galt (SR) and JHSS (JR), they will actually be "WCSSAA #2" in both divisions, due to tiebreaking procedures on CWOSSA qualification from the WCSSAA website (http://wcssaa.ca/sites/all/files/Basketball-Boys_0.pdf).

Essentially, JHSS had a better common opponent record than PHS in junior, while KCI and GCI had the same record in senior (but GCI won H2H).

Junior Pool A
Jacob Hespeler
St. James
Westside

Junior Pool B
North Park
Preston
St. David

Senior Pool A
Galt
St. James
Westhill

Senior Pool B
St. John's
KCI
Monsignor Doyle

Predictions/Comments - Junior
On the junior side, St. James and North Park have been among the discussions among top "AAA" teams during the season, and those teams certainly enter this tournament as the favourites to make the championship final.

Pool "B" on the junior side, though, is quite competitive with North Park, Preston and St. David --- I actually wouldn't be surprised to see any of those three teams make the semifinals.

Pool A Prediction
St. James 2-0
Jacob Hespeler 1-1
Westside 0-2

Pool B Prediction
North Park 2-0
Preston 1-1
St. David 0-2

Semifinals:  St. James over Preston; North Park over Jacob Hespeler.

Championship Final:  St. James over North Park

Predictions/Comments - Senior
Like the junior competition, Pool B seems to be the most competitive of the two pools if you had to pick one.

St. John's is certainly the favourite in that pool, but both KCI (who have had their moments this past season) and Monsignor Doyle (with solid balance and 4/5 guys that could score 20+ if given the opportunity) could certainly both advance to the semis depending on how things play out.

In Pool "A", the St. James' Lions, playing on their home court, look like a solid favourite to win that pool, with the more competitive of the two games being a 10am game against Galt CI.

Pool A Prediction
St. James 2-0
Galt 1-1
Westhill 0-2

Pool B Prediction
St. John's 2-0
KCI 1-1
MDCSS 0-2

Semifinals:  St. John's over Galt; St. James over KCI.

Final:  St. John's over St. James

"AA" CWOSSA Games Postponed Today

Games scheduled for "AA" CWOSSA today (semifinals & finals) have been postponed today.

I'm in the process of tracking down results from yesterday, so if you can help out with that, feel free to tweet (@cwossabball) or e-mail me.

I can tell you, though, that on the senior side, the heavily favoured Bishop Macdonell Celtics went 2-0 in their pool with big wins over St. Mary's of Owen Sound (87-34) and Pauline Johnson of Brantford (73-38).

Norfolk News: Waterford Wolves Capture "A" Boys Basketball Title

Article By:  Darryl G. Smart

Entering the high school junior basketball season, Waterford Wolves coach Derek Rowntree knew he had a special player on his hands in the form of Logan Donaldson.
                          

Little did he know the supporting cast would provide heroics and a balance that would have the Wolves at the top of junior basketball.

                          

While Donaldson led the way, scoring 48 points in two games, the Wolves captured the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association A junior basketball championship Wednesday in Walkerton.

                          

“I was very impressed by the way our guys played,” Rowntree said. “It was a continuation of the HT game (Norfolk Secondary School Athletic Association final). “Logan was great for us and our big guy (Nick Howard) was unstoppable at times pulling every rebound down. Everyone on the court and on the bench contributed. This was a great team effort. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

                          

To begin the CWOSSA championships, Donaldson led the way with 22 points in a 47-29 win over Georgian Bay.

                           

“In that first game it was close at half,” Rowntree said. “We were only up a couple.”

                          

But then the Wolves, led by Donaldson and Howard, pulled away. Howard scored 10 points, six of which came in the second half, while Michael Cooper netted five, Warren Vanloon had four, with Jackson Scott and Rem Benninger adding two each. Carter Walsh pitched in with one.

                          

“We tightened up the D and Nick played like a beast down low,” Rowntree said. “It was a big win for the guys.”

                          

The win pitted them against Rockway in the final, where the Wolves had to dig deep in the second half to come away with a 54-48 win to capture the CWOSSA championship.

                          

“They came out strong on us, and had one kid that dominated, scoring 18 points on us,” Rowntree said. “We went back to a box-one, like we did in the NSSAA semifinal and final and it worked.”

                           

In that defensive scheme, Rowntree called upon Cooper to play one-on-one with Rockway’s sniper.

                          

“Cooper did another great job,” Rowntree said. “He completely shut that kid down. He only scored five in the second half. Defence has gotten us to where we are. That is what won the last four games for us and that continued over into Wednesday.”

                          

And when the final buzzer went, all the hard work the Wolves put into their season poured into their emotions.

                          

“They were so pumped,” Rowntree said. “You couldn’t be more happy for them. Before the game I told the boys there’s nothing left to play for after this. They really believed in themselves and played like they wanted one more.

                          

“At the start of the season I figured Logan would be one of the top guys,” Rowntree said. “If he can get hot at the right time and the others could play as well as I thought they could, we’d maybe do some damage. Mid season I saw the improvements everyone was making. They all bought into what we were teaching them and it translated into a hell of a season.”

                           

In senior CWOSSA A action Wednesday, the Wolves beat Georgian Bay 54-40, before losing to Walkerton 57-46 in the final.

 

http://www.norfolknews.ca/sports-story/4376465-wolves-capture-cwossa-a-junior-boys-basketball-title/