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| Stephenson With Silver Fox MVP |
KITCHENER — St. Mary's Eagles forward Jamari Stephenson took a seat on the bench and stayed there.
The MVP of last weekend's Silver Fox
invitational basketball tournament in Hamilton played the role of
cheerleader on Wednesday during the Eagles' 78-38 win over the visiting
St. David Celtics.
Regular starters Tesloth Simon and Nathan
Riley also took the day off, while Tyrick Thompson and Jermaine Lyle saw
limited action, as the Eagles improved to 11-0 in District 8 senior
boys league play while dropping the overmatched Celtics to 3-8.
The Eagles were, understandably, still
feeling good about themselves four days after their 58-56 victory over
the St. Marguerite D'Youville Panthers of Brampton, in the Silver Fox
final.
Their win at the prestigious 20-team
tournament was the Eagles' first tourney win this year after runner-up
finishes at a pair of local events. The Eagles fell 64-54 to Windsor's
Catholic Central Comets at the Highlander Classic and 57-52 to Toronto's
Oakwood Barons at the Heinbuch Classic.
"We were doing well in those other
tournaments, but for some reason we choked in the finals," said
Stephenson.
"So winning the last tournament shows we can
do it, that we just have to put a little bit more effort into it."
The Eagles — a squad that boasts five
fifth-year starters — are widely regarded as the top team in Waterloo
Region and would appear to have a legitimate chance of making some noise
at next month's Ontario Federation of School Athletics Association
tournament in Windsor.
St. Mary's, of course, will first have to
win its fourth straight District 8 championship. It will then need to
win a play-in game against a team from the Guelph area to advance to the
four-team Central Western Ontario championship.
The CWOSSA championship is a four-team tournament with the two best teams moving on to OFSAA.
Eagles head coach Jason Hergott believes his
team can play with the big boys if it reaches OFSAA for a third
straight year.
"I think we've got a legitimate shot of
getting to the medal round at OFSSA. The thing is, with our league and
the way it is set up, we're just one bad game from elimination," he
said.
"I'm excited and I'm just trying to keep
them level because most of them have been there already, so it's just a
matter of making sure we don't do anything too stupid."
That task might not be as easy as it sounds.
The Eagles are an emotional team and the players don't always see eye-to-eye.
They can be the best of friends one minute and bickering teenagers the next.
"When times are tough, it's true, we do like
to argue with each other and stuff like that; but we're family and at
the end of the day we love each other," said Stephenson with a smile.
"I feel sorry for the coach sometimes. He
does a lot for us and there are times that he's talking and there are 12
other people talking and trying to do their own thing."
Hergott, as he showed during Saturday's win,
isn't afraid to go to his bench if the team needs a wake-up call. He
pulled all five starters in the second quarter with his team trailing by
16 and the bench players cut that lead to eight at the half.
Grade 11 guard Adham Eleeda led all scorers
in the championship game with 18 points and was also the top scorer
against St. David with 24 points. Heanok Abara and David Nguyen added 17
and 16 points respectively against the Celtics.
Mason Cumming had 10 and John McElroy added nine for St. David.
The Eagles will continue their tournament
schedule on Friday when they take part in the all-Ontario Catholic
Classic in St. Catharines.
They are attempting to become the first team
from Waterloo Region to win the event since the St. Jerome's Lions in
1987 and 1988. The Resurrection Phoenix reached the final in 1997.
This tournament features several of
Ontario's best teams, including the top-ranked St. Michael's Blue
Raiders of Toronto.
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