Grand River fans are certainly looking forward to tomorrow evening at Cameron Heights.The Rens will have teams in both ends of the junior-senior championship double-header tomorrow evening, after both of their teams (who were lower seeded entering play) pulled wins to advance to the championship finals.
The bigger upset of the two was certainly on the junior side, where #4 Grand River handed previously undefeated #1 SJAM their first WCSSAA loss this season, by a 58-50 final. Jake Zuzan and Aleks Cvrkalj provided their usual strong games for the Renegades.
This will mark the fourth time in the past 5 WCSSAA finals that the Grand River juniors will be participating. The exception was 2011, when Forest Heights and Cameron Heights met in the final.
They'll be meeting the #2 seeded WCI Vikings, who got past the #3 Cameron Heights Golden Gaels in a 52-37 final. WCI led just 33-31 late in the third but strong play by Aaron Grubb down the stretch allowed the Vikes to finish on a 19-6 run.
Senior: (1) Cameron Hts. 52, (4) WCI 37
After being tied at 14-14 after one quarter, the Cameron Heights Gaels held the WCI Vikings to just 23 points the rest of the way, while scoring 38 themselves, in a 52-37 win.
Sasha Simic scored 19 points for Cameron Heights, while Jason Thompson added 13 points and 9 rebounds.
Nick Johnny led the way for WCI with 14.
Boxscore
WCI 14-06-08-09 = 37
CHCI 14-19-11-08 = 52
WCI
S. Mutware 1-8 3-5 6, N. Johnny 6-16 0-0 14, S. Bagabe 2-7 0-1 4, E. Mizrahi 0-4 0-1 0, N. Despotovic 2-3 0-2 4, B. Vincic 2-4 0-0 5, S. Elgadi 2-7 0-0 4, J. Milks 0-1 0-0 0.
Field Goals: 15-50 (.300). Free-Throws: 3-9 (.333). Three-Point Goals: 4-17, .235 (N. Johnny 2-8, B. Vincic 1-2, S. Mutware 1-4, E. Mizrahi 0-1, S. Bagabe 0-2).
CHCI
N. Farkic 1-5 0-0 2, A. Khan 3-9 0-0 9, S. Simic 7-12 3-5 19, J. Do 0-1 0-1 0, J. Thompson 5-9 3-5 13, I. Cucak 3-4 0-0 6, G. Erkic 1-4 0-2 2, J. Bradford 0-0 0-0 0.
Field Goals: 20-44 (.454). Free-Throws: 6-13 (.462). Three-Point Goals: 5-15, .333 (A. Khan 3-7, S. Simic 2-5, N. Farkic 0-3).
Senior: (3) Grand River 63, (2) SJAM 53
Chuder Teny poured home 28 points as the Grand River Renegades held on down the stretch to defeat the SJAM Highlanders 63-53.
The Rens led by as many as 16 points, before an SJAM rally cut things to within 5 points in the fourth quarter --- but that was as close as they would get.
Alongside Teny's performance, Murtada Khamis had 11 while Petar Petkovic was arguably the "X Factor" for the Rens despite scoring --- he contributed 8 rebounds, several blocked shots and numerous deflections on the defensive side of the ball.
Nedim Hodzic starred for SJAM, scoring 24 points and adding 11 rebounds. Quinn Turner added 10, while Simon Petrov had 6 points and 5 assists.
Grand River will be seeking their first-ever Senior Boys' WCSSAA title on Wednesday.
