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| Photo Via @RCSSBasketball |
Article By: Mark Bryson
KITCHENER — The fight to challenge the St.
Mary's Eagles for District 8 basketball supremacy is shaping up to be a
good one.
The St. Benedict Saints fired the opening
shot on Wednesday by downing the Resurrection Phoenix 46-35 in a senior
clash between the two teams that appear best equipped to give the
three-time defending champion Eagles a run for their money.
Grade 11 guard Zubair Seyed scored a
game-high 21 points as the Saints rebounded from a 21-18 halftime
deficit and opened their regular-season schedule with an impressive
victory at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School. The Phoenix fell to
1-1 after opening the season Monday with a 77-46 win over the Monsignor
Doyle Mustangs.
"This means a lot to us and it's obviously a
great way to start the season. We lost to them here in the first game
last year (in junior) so it's nice to bounce back," said Seyed.
"It gives us bragging rights and confidence for the next time we play them."
The third quarter turned out to be the
decisive one as the Saints switched to a zone defence at the break and
outscored the Phoenix 13-0 to build a 31-21 lead.
The Phoenix fought back in the fourth and
narrowed the Saints' lead to 34-32 on the strength of three consecutive
three-point efforts by Korbil Gany.
That, however, was as close as it would get.
Seyed responded with a three-pointer of his
own to make it a five-point game and Khiem Tran added three points on a
basket and foul shot to stretch the lead to eight. Tran finished the
game with eight points.
Muyang Iluya had 14 points for Resurrection and Gany had 11.
As for the matter of the highly touted
Eagles, Seyed said it's in his team's best interests to ignore the hype
that surrounds them. The Eagles reached the final of the prestigious
Heinbuch Classic this past weekend and are considered one of the top
teams in Ontario.
"We just have to block it out, block out the
media that is talking about St. Mary's and just play our own game and
not be scared of them," Seyed said.
"We approach every game like a championship game and it won't be any different when we play them."
The Saints play the Eagles on Dec. 13 in
Cambridge, while the Phoenix take on their Kitchener rivals on Monday.
"We all love challenges right, so we're
looking forward to seeing them," said Saints head coach John Malnerich.
"The pressure's on them, not us."
Phoenix head coach Chris Aldworth was
confident his team would learn from its defeat and bounce back.
"We played well for three quarters and it
was just one of those situations. Sometimes you come out flat after
halftime and that's what happened," he said.
"I'm confident we can beat that zone, we
just missed some layups and outside looks we normally hit. It's
correctable."
Meanwhile, the Eagles (2-0) recorded their
second straight romp of the week, with a 75-30 win over the Mustangs.
The St. David Celtics (1-0) will get a
better idea where they fit into the D8 picture on Monday when they take
on St. Benedict in Cambridge.
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