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| Gerry Graham / HamiltonScores.com Photo |
Brantford St. John's was the other CWOSSA team taking part in the 16-team event, which featured many of the top Catholic teams from around the province.
In the first round, the Saints overcame a slow start, trailing at the half against Hamilton's Bishop Ryan (on their home court) and gradually pulled away for a 44-29 win. Zubair Seyed paced all scorers with an 18-point effort for the Saints.
Things didn't go so smoothly for the other teams in the first round. The Resurrection Phoenix, who were without the services of starting guard Jake Rush this past weekend, were upset by the other co-host, St. Thomas More, in a 55-53 game that wasn't without controversy.
The Knights took a 1-point lead late in the game on a free-throw where a violation was called on the shooter for coming into the lane too soon. However, the referees erroneously ruled that because the basket was made, the violation did not count.
Ali Rashid had 14 points for Rez, while Moe Harb led STM (and all scorers) with 16.
On the positive side, this ensured a CWOSSA team would advance through to the consolation semifinals as the Phoenix would play Brantford St. John's (who were defeated by Oakville Holy Trinity earlier) in the second round. Resurrection took that one by a 54-35 final, with Rashid again leading the way with 12. Michael Dubois hit 6 three-pointers en route to 20 points for the Eagles.
Back on the championship side, St. Benedict took on Cardinal Newman, the first-place team from the Hamilton Catholic loop. A 10-0 third quarter run enabled the Saints to increase their 21-20 halftime lead in a game that they'd eventually win by a 51-43 score.
Seyed, Justin Malnerich and Alex Douglas paced the Saints attack with 15, 14 and 11 points, respectively.
This advanced Resurrection (consolation side) and St. Benedict (championship side) to Sunday action.
On the championship side, it was a low-scoring affair between St. Benedict and GTA #3 Jean Vanier SS, which ended up 37-35.....in overtime (that's not a typo).
Vanier would go on to take the championship final over GTA #2 Toronto St. Mike's.
On the consolation side, the Phoenix raced to a 17-point lead over Hamilton Cathedral but some hot shooting allowed the Gaels to make a game of it in a 59-55 final. Ali Rashid poured in 26 points for Rez, with Muyang Iluya adding 19 more.
In the consolation final, Resurrection took on Bishop Ryan of Hamilton. In a back-and-forth affair, the Celtics overcame a 6-point third quarter deficit to take a fourth quarter lead and hang on for a 59-54 win.
Jacob Gosk led the way for the Celtics with 21 points, while Joe Hunter had 16 for Rez.
As expected given their play over the weekend, both Zubair Seyed (St. Benedict) and Ali Rashid (Resurrection) were named to the 10-player tournament all-star team.
