D8 Finals: Midget & Junior

It's a "tripleheader" of basketball action today at St. Mary's High School in Kitchener, which tips off at 4pm with the Midget Boys' D8 final, followed by the Junior final (6pm) and the Senior final (8pm).  

I'll do a separate post for the senior finals, but here is information about the other two:

Midget:  (1) St. Benedict vs. (2) Resurrection
Since the renewal of the D8 Midget Boys' (grade 9) basketball league in 2006-07, these two teams have combined to each win 3 titles, with St. Mary's winning the other 2.

The Saints, in fact, have taken the last three titles and are strong favourites to win their 4th straight title here today.

Only three teams fielded midget teams this season (SBCSS, RCSS, and SDCSS) with the Saints going a perfect 6-0 and the Phoenix finishing second in the league at 3-3 (St. David went 0-6).  

However, the three meetings between the Phoenix and Saints weren't necessarily close, with St. Benedict winning by an average of 24.6 PPG (43-29, 55-26 and 59-28).

Their 334 points scored in 6 games (55.6) is far and away the most points scored in recent years (250 in 6 games was the previous high); the D8 website has data from 2011 and onward.

Prediction:  St. Benedict 47, Resurrection 

Junior:  (1) St. David vs. (2) St. Mary's
If their regular season games are any indication, it should be a close affair at St. Mary's tonight.

The Celtics won 2 of 3 regular season matches between these clubs, although all games were decided by 10 points or less.  St. Mary's won the opener, 52-44, back in December, before St. David won the next two -- 46-36 at home and then 63-61 at St. Mary's.

How They Got Here
Top-seeded St. David defeated the #4 seed, Resurrection, 62-47 in their semifinal game; the #2 Eagles cruised past #3 St. Benedict, 66-44, in the other.

History Lesson
By my count, the Eagles have now appeared in 11 consecutive D8 finals; they are seeking a "5-peat" with a win tonight.  The St. Benedict "D8 Dynasty" from the late 1990s is the only school to have won more consecutive championships, as they won 7 straight between 1994 and 2000.

St. David will be gunning for their second D8 title, with their first D8 title coming in their last appearance (2008).

Key Players
Sharp-shooting St. David guard Brent Lasovich is certainly one of the players to watch in this one.  He counted for around 1/3 of St. David's points during their regular-season meetings, so containing him will be key for the Eagles to have success.

That said, he's not a "one man show" by any means.  Matthew Raddochia has been a consistent double-digit scorer for the Celts, while Justin Henderson has had a couple of key performances this year (especially against the Eagles).

John Winnett had a most impressive semifinal for the Celts with 22 against Rez.

St. Mary's meanwhile has their "big three" keyed by one of the better frontcourt players in the D8 league, Jason Jaros, who started in the Eagles' D8 final victory last year and had a crucial late-game basket that pushed St. Mary's lead to 8 points with a minute to go in that one.

Guards Tyreak Farquharson and Kanayo Nnadi are the other main offensive threats; Farquharson had 20 and Nnadi 12 in the Eagles' semifinal win, while they flipped roles a couple of weeks ago against St. David with Nnadi netting 19 and Farquharson adding 10 in that tight 2-point loss.

The Game
It's no secret that the St. David Celtics like to maintain the pace and play a patient, controlled game.

The Celts may have been the first ever team to finish first in the D8 standings, but to finish 4th in scoring (they actually had the lowest PPG output in the D8 "A" division).

Pace of play is part of it, but the other side of the coin is the stifling Celtics defense.  St. David gave up 36.7 PPG, one point less than last year's top defense (a very strong St. Benedict club).  Tough to compare to years' previous when teams would play everyone twice (thus 2 games against some of the lower-ranked teams would skew the statistics).  Regardless, impressive defensive capabilities with this club.

St. Mary's, meanwhile, is your traditional Eagle club that likes to get out in transition when the opportunities present themselves.  The Eagles would certainly prefer to play a game more in the 50s or 60s, although the Celtics did prove last time that they could win a game like that (63-61).

Prediction
As a result of the finals being hosted by the highest remaining senior seed (St. Mary's), their juniors also get home-court advantage for this one.  Will it be enough?  Possibly.  Coin-flip game for sure that should be a competitive affair, but I'll go with the top-ranked Celtics in a battle.

St. David 51, St. Mary's 49