Article By: Mark Bryson
WATERLOO — The St. Mary's Eagles were just
minutes away from a historic victory and then, depending on how you want
to look at it, they either coughed it up or had it ripped away from
them.
What we know with certainty is that D'Wan
Williams scored half of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as
the Oakwood Barons rallied for a 57-52 victory over the Eagles in the
championship final of the 31st Heinbuch Classic senior boys' basketball tournament.
Oakwood won the championship of the 16-team
tournament for a record fourth straight year – two straight over St.
Mary's – in front of a packed house at Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary
School. It was also their fifth win in six years and sixth overall,
tying Toronto Runnymeade as the school with the most Heinbuch victories.
"We just made history and that can't be
erased so this feels good," said Barons guard and tournament MVP Calvin
Epistola. "I look forward to this tournament every year, this is my
fourth time here and this is probably the best one I've ever been to."
The Barons again prevented the Eagles from
becoming the first team from Waterloo Region to win the prestigious
tournament. The KCI Raiders lost in the 2004 final and the Eastwood
Rebels came up short in 1984 when it was an eight-team event.
The Eagles led 26-18 at halftime on Saturday
and stretched that lead to 12 points in the third quarter before the
Barons started chipping away. They completed their comeback and took the
lead for good when Epistola nailed a three-point shot with less than
three minutes to play that gave his team a 48-47 lead.
First-team all-star Tesloth Simon led the
Eagles with 14 points but said he was disappointed with his personal
performance in the final after three outstanding games leading up to it.
The reigning MVP of the District 8 league picked up his third foul
early in the second half and said that had a negative impact on his play
the rest of the way.
He gave credit to Oakwood for being a
talented and hard-working team but said the Eagles let this one slip
away.
"I played great the whole tournament except
this game and I feel like I let my team down. They all look up to me as
the leading scorer and captain and I wasn't the same Tesloth today, you
know, smiling and energetic. It just wasn't there," he said.
"There's a light ahead of us though and
we're going the right way. Coach (Jason) Hergott and (assistants) Isaac
Lance and Chad McPherson are doing a good job and I think we're going to
make a lot of noise this season."
Jermaine Lyle added 13 points for the Eagles, Jamari Stevens had nine and Tyrick Thompson had eight.
The Eagles crushed Hamilton's Sir Allan
MacNab Lions 77-61 to advance to the final and Oakwood handled the Sir
John A. Macdonald Highlanders 75-60.
Meanwhile, the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels
scored a 48-44 win over the Eastwood Rebels in the Silver Division
final, Hamilton's St. Thomas More Knights beat the Grand River Renegades
48-25 in the Bronze Division final, and Brantford's North Park Trojans
topped the Waterloo Vikings 56-52 in the Consolation final.
Sasha Simic of Cameron Heights join
Williams, Epistola, Stevenson and Simon on the first-team all-star
squad, while Ousmane Kromah of Eastwood, Xavier Ellis of St. Thomas
More, Nedim Hodzic of SJAM, Nikola Farkic of Cameron Heights and Shai
Alexander of MacNab were selected to the second team.
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