Article By: Darryl G. SmartEntering 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.
