Saints Invitational: St. Benedict Takes Title At Home Tourney; First Time Since 2002

Tourney MVP Zubair Seyed

Carrying over momentum from right before Christmas where they placed second at the University of Windsor tournament (losing the championship final in a game where Zubair Seyed was ill), the St. Benedict Saints went 5-0 this past weekend at their home tournament, the 28th Annual "Saints Invitational" to take home the title.

The Saints won their home tournament for the first time since 2002, and also became the first CWOSSA-based team to take home the title since 2011 (when Resurrection won an all-CWOSSA final against Forest Heights).

St. Benedict started off the weekend on Friday by taking the two games in their pool, 84-25 over Bluevale, and 79-49 over Ancaster (Zubair Seyed, 22).

They played a very strong team on the provincial radar in St. John Paul II (London), a team that they had already defeated once this season.  Despite leading by just three (23-20) at the half, the Saints held the Jaguars to just 13 second half points, winning by a 46-33 final score.  

Seyed again had 22 in the semifinals against Grand River, where the Saints held off the Rens by a 56-53 final despite losing 6'9" Evan Rodenburg for a time in the second half with an ankle injury.  It was actually quite the finish as the Saints had a 7-point lead late in the game, before a Grand River three and Miro Iliev making all three free-throws after being fouled on a three-pointer following a steal cut things to one.  Seyed iced the game with two free-throws, before GRCI's final attempt was off the mark.  

The championship final was against a defensive clinic by the Saints, who held Brampton's St. Roch scoreless in the third quarter, allowing SBCSS to establish a double-digit lead which they wouldn't relinquish in a 51-37 win.  Justin Malnerich led the way in that one, with 15 points.

St. Roch, who are undefeated in the tough Brampton North Division (a league featuring Campion, D'Youville, St. Augustine, Brampton Centennial, Notre Dame, etc.), came into the final following a win over a fellow ROPSSAA school, the upstart St. Joseph Jaguars of Mississauga (62-55).

The 37-points allowed by St. Benedict was actually a record for the championship final, besting the previous mark of 38 points set by WCI in the 2007 championship game.

Two other CWOSSA teams won their pools before being eliminated in the semifinals.  WCI dropped a 54-47 quarterfinal decision to St. Roch, while St. Joseph topped St. Mary's 79-65 (Adham Eleeda with 20 for the Eagles).

LaSalle Secondary School (Sudbury) edged Collingwood DSS 56-55 in the consolation final.

Full results can be found at http://stbenedict.wcdsb.ca/basketball/?a=srsched.

As for individual accolades, Kuel Thomas of Huron Heights ended up as the tournament's leading scorer with a 25.3 PPG average, just missing out on joining the top-five list in tournament history (25.7).

SBCSS placed three players on the tournament's all-star team, including MVP Zubair Seyed.  Evan Rodenburg was also a first-team all-star, while defensive stalwart Lucas Cardoso was a second-team selection.

Rounding out the first-team all-stars were Pierre De'Andrae (St. Roch), Noah Lapierre (LaSalle) and Clythus Griffith (St. Joseph's).

Second-teamers aside from Cardoso were Jordan Francis (St. Roch), Spencer Standholt (Collingwood), Kurtis Brisebois (LaSalle) and Miro Iliev (GRCI).