Article By: Darryl G. SmartWinning the Norfolk Secondary School Athletic Association senior boys basketball championship is something Mark Gubbles and his graduating Grade 12 teammates have been chasing for some time.
Last year the Holy Trinity Titans thought it was going to be the year to do it, but with the loss of the high school basketball season, those hopes went away.
And in the year where the NSSAA loop was more open than it has in quite some time, Gubbles, Tevan Gardner and the Titans grabbed a hold of the moment with a 40-31 win over the Waterford Wolves Friday night at home.
“It feels pretty unreal,” said Gubbles, who pitched in with 11 points. “It’s my last year and we didn’t have a season last year which was disappointing. We knew we had another pretty good team this year.
“It just feels really good to be able to win this,” he said. “Coming in it was tough to tell how we’d do. In junior with pretty much the same team, we didn’t do so well.”
He said even though last season was cancelled, it was one of several contributing factors to their success this season.
“I think the lockout helped us because we were able to get that much better,” Gubbles said. “The other teams weren’t able to.”
Another was the concept head coach Paul MacCormack put in place.
“He (MacCormack) made sure that everyone got the ball,” Gubbles said. “We have five guys on the court that can score where other teams usually only have one or two. We took advantage of that.”
And on Friday in the final at Holy Trinity, it was Tevan Gardner’s turn to get touches.
“When I get the ball down low I just looked for Tevan,” Gubbles said. “Nobody comes close to his height and athletism. If you get him the ball it should be an easy two points.”
And it’s a strategy that was effective against a much smaller Wolves team. Gardner led all scorers with 16 points, almost all of which were in the paint and almost under the basket.”
“It feels pretty good to win this. It’s great,” Gardner said. “It was a great team effort. I’m pretty confident in our boys and I’m glad they’re confident in me getting the ball.
“I felt pretty comfortable (getting the ball down low),” he said. “In other games I don’t usually have my hands up. Tonight I did and they were getting me the ball and doing what I could do to help us win this thing. We knew it would be a tough game like this. We really believed in our abilities and that’s a big deal.”
Prior to the game, Gardner said MacCormack’s message was simple, and something the players took to heart.
“He told us to just go out there and play the way he knows we can,” Gardner said. “It was our game to win and we treated it that way. And the best part is we came away with the championship.”
The Titans will now host Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School, from Cambridge Tuesday at 3 p.m. in a Central Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association AAA play-in game.
The Wolves, despite the loss, will go to Chesley for the CWOSSA A championships Wednesday.
Titans scorers: Tevan Gardner 16, Mark Gubbles 11, Braden Ongena five, Parker Holliday four, Jordan Hill four.
Wolves scorers: Matt Couperus 13, Corey MacLean nine, Justin Nodrofsky six, Caleb Girard two, Greg Veszenyi two
