A strong second half helped propel the WCI Vikings to their second junior title in the last five years on Wednesday evening at Cameron Heights CI in Kitchener.The Vikings, who trailed 24-23 at halftime, made the necessary adjustments against Grand River's vaunted 1-3-1 zone defense to begin to get solid looks on the interior, while also ramping things up on the defensive end to counter Grand River's scoring stars, Jake Zuzan and Aleks Cvrkalj.
The third quarter was the difference, as WCI outscored Grand River 16-7 --- well, actually 15-7, as they were credited with three points during one Aaron Grubb trip to the free-throw line where they made two --- to take a 39-31 lead heading into the fourth.
Grubb, who finished with 25 points, and Adam Piazza (18 points + 5 rebounds) did most of the damage for WCI in the second half.
However, the backbreaking play was delivered by Shanif Hirani, who took a steal the other way for a lay-up and a 48-36 Viking lead with around 4:00 to go.
Grand River's Zuzan had a most impressive first half, showing a lot of confidence on the big stage and scoring 15 (of Grand River's 24) points in total to help them to the halftime edge.
The Vikes keyed even more on him and Aleks Cvrkalj in the second half; the duo combined for 17 second half points but many of those were late in the contest with the outcome of the game essentially decided.
No other Renegade scored more than two points, though Nathan Rowe was certainly big on the defensive backboards with eleven rebounds and a couple of impressive blocked shots.
For WCI, the aforementioned Grubb had 4 rebounds and 3 assists to go along with his 25 points, while Piazza had 18 points, 5 rebounds and 2 dimes.
Grubb and Piazza combined to go an efficient 15-for-25 (.600) from the floor.
Hirani finished with 8, while also hitting the scoresheet were Griffin Floto (3) and Bryce Scarrow (3).
Grand River received 21 in total from Zuzan, with Cvrkalj adding 17. Rounding out the GRCI scoresheet were contributions from Jason Singh (2), Nathan Rowe (2), Zarko Ubiparip (2), Abdei Hamad (2) and Matt James (1).
Both teams will advance to this weekend's AAAA CWOSSA tournament in Brantford, alongside Kitchener St. Mary's and Guelph JF Ross.
Boxscore
WCI 16-07-16-19 = 58
GRCI 10-14-07-16 = 47
WCI
S. Hirani 3-9 FG, 2-5 FT, 1 Reb, 4 Ast - 8 Pts.
G. Floto 1-7 FG, 1-4 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 3 Pts.
A. Grubb 7-14 FG, 10-11 FT, 4 Reb, 3 Ast - 25 Pts.
B. Scarrow 1-2 FT, 1-2 FT, 7 Reb, 3 Ast - 3 Pts.
A. Piazza 8-11 FG, 0-1 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Ast - 18 Pts.
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B. Dobson 0-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
K. Paleshi 0-2 FG, 0-2 FT, 4 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
Field Goals: 20-47 (.426). Free-Throws: 14-25 (.560). Three-Point Goals: 3-10, .300 (A. Piazza 2-2, A. Grubb 1-2, G. Floto 0-2, S. Hirani 0-4).
Grand River
J. Zuzan 6-11 FG, 8-10 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Ast - 21 Pts.
A. Cvrkalj 5-13 FG, 5-6 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 17 Pts.
J. Singh 1-3 FG, 0-0 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
N. Rowe 1-8 FG, 0-1 FT, 11 Reb, 0 Ast - 2 Pts.
Z. Ubiparip 1-5 FG, 0-0 FT, 8 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
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M. James 0-1 FG, 1-2 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 1 Pt.
A. Hamad 1-5 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
Field Goals: 15-46 (.326). Free-Throws: 14-19 (.734). Three-Point Goals: 3-12, .250 (A. Cvrkalj 2-6, J. Zuzan 1-1, J. Singh 0-2, A. Hamad 0-3).
