Article By: Rob Massey
The Ross Royals are healthy and
that's a warning for the other District 10 senior boys' basketball teams
that survived Thursday's quarter-finals.
"I'm excited about the way we're playing,"
Ross coach Charlie Douglas said. "We've had injuries right from the
start of the year — three concussions and four or five players out
almost every single game. We finally have 12 players who can all play
and that's been huge."
The Royals gained a berth in Tuesday's
semifinals with an 81-61 victory over the Centennial Spartans Thursday
in quarter-final play at Ross.
"We really started working together as a
team," Andrew Folkerson of the Royals said of a third-quarter surge that
secured the win. "We realized that we should use our strength, pounding
it down low. We didn't have to work as hard as we were working, we just
had to do the simple things a lot better, and we did."
"The big thing was that we were in foul
trouble," Douglas said. "We blew a 15-point lead with about two minutes
to go with some of our younger players, Grade 11s, on the court. When
your top one, two, three, four, five and six guys all have two fouls,
you just make some changes."
The Royals led 21-9 at the end of the first
quarter before the Spartans cut the gap to 37-34 at halftime. Ross got
its starters back on the court for the start of the second half and
worked the ball into the paint as the Royals extended their lead to
65-48 by the end of the third quarter.
"We don't have any monsters, but we have a
lot of big guys so we just pound it down low and we had a lot of success
and we'll keep trying to do that," Folkerson said. He had 17 points to
lead Ross while Jake Grant had 16 and Daniel Street and Tommy Yanchus
netted 11 apiece.
"With our big guns back in the lineup in the
third quarter, we made a giant push and that was the difference in the
game," Douglas said.
Chris Jin had 16 points for Centennial while Harman Goyal added 12 and Jasmer Brar had 10.
The Royals were hot heading into the
playoffs as they finished the regular season on a five-game winning
streak.
"We just came off a big win over BM,"
Folkerson said of a 15-point win on the final day of the regular season.
"We were hoping to win by 16, but we didn't end up getting that so
we're in third place."
One more point in that game by the Royals
would've given them a second-place finish and a home game for the
Tuesday's semifinals. Instead, they'll play the Celtics at Bishop Mac.
"As long as we keep playing together as a
team and doing what we do best, I feel very confident," Folkerson said.
Tuesday's semifinals feature Ross playing at Bishop Mac and St. James hosting Centre Wellington.
Centre Wellington 75 Lourdes 58
James Scott connected for 24 points for Centre Wellington while Mackenzie Mathers had 13. Craig Valeriote led Lourdes with 23 while James Gerstenkorn collected 14.
James Scott connected for 24 points for Centre Wellington while Mackenzie Mathers had 13. Craig Valeriote led Lourdes with 23 while James Gerstenkorn collected 14.
Doug Evans hit for 13 points for St. James while Joey Hasson had 12. Luke Wouters had a game-high 15 for Orangeville while Dave Anderson contributed five.
Bishop Macdonell 55 Guelph CVI 32
Lukas Wood led Bishop Mac with 18 points while Jack Morris had 10 and Evan Hosker chipped in with eight. Spencer Swan had nine for GCVI while David Sydor had six and Mac Riley had five.
D10 Jr. Boys' Basketball
Quarter-finals
Centennial 64 Lourdes 20
Tommy Nield led Centennial with nine points
and was followed by Matt Paddock with eight and Farhad Omarzad with six.
William Vandenheuvel and David Casupanan gathered seven apiece for
Lourdes.
Centre Wellington 70 Orangeville 46
Cole Newton's 27 points led Centre
Wellington while Camden La Bastide followed with 12. Graydon Lindsay and
Tyrell Asante had 12 apiece for Orangeville.
GCVI 52, JF Ross 25
St. James 62, Bishop Mac 52
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