CWOSSA Commitments - 2012

Here are some CWOSSA post-secondary commitments that have been announced at this point in time.

If you have any to add, please feel free to let me know (@cwossabball on Twitter, email mark @ cwossabasketball.com); we can subsequently update this list.  Thanks!

Senior Girls - CWOSSA Commitments

NCAA

Michelle Hudyn, Eastwood - Missouri (NCAA D1)

CIS

Katie Polischuk, Brantford St. John's - U of Regina

Erica McFadden, Centre Wellington - U of Guelph
Kaitlyn Schenck, St. Mary's - Wilfrid Laurier U.
Maddie Lougheed, West Hill (OS) - Trinity Western (BC)

Senior Boys - CWOSSA Commitments

NCAA

N/A

CIS

Jason Quiring, Jacob Hespeler - McMaster U.

Shamlo Saeed, JF Ross - McMaster U.
Connor Wood, REDA via Bishop Mac - Carleton U.

Perrin Smith, Bluevale - University of Guelph
Filip Cvrkalj, Grand River - Wilfrid Laurier
Nick Lau, West Hill (OS) - Wilfrid Laurier

Ben Reyhani, Waterloo SJAM - U of Waterloo

Mike Pereira, Resurrection - U of Waterloo*

* - Pereira has verbally committed to Waterloo but confirmation of his commitment will be based upon the to-be-selected new University of Waterloo coach.

OCAA

Marcus Hamilton, North Park - Lambton College

CWOSSA News: WDCS Announces New Mascot and School Colours

**News Release from Walkerton DSS**

The new Walkerton District Community School has announced that the school will be represented by the colours Black, Silver and Royal Blue (picture Tampa Bay Lightning uniforms) and the teams will be known as the Riverhawks.

The decision was made by a subcommittee struck by the joint school councils. The committee researched countless colour combinations and mascots from high schools , elementary schools, colleges and universities across North America. They used social media, online surveys from members of the community and paper surveys from all students and staff to generate ideas and create a short list of possibilities. A second survey was conducted near the end of the process to get feedback on the short list.

The committee had to avoid team names and colours that were already used by other local elementary and secondary schools and needed to create a brand to represent the three merging schools.

Members of the committee wanted to have a team nickname that had meaning that related to the town of Walkerton. Since the river is a major feature of the town both geographically and economically, the name Riverhawks chosen as a reference to the hawks (Osprey) that make their home along the Saugeen River.

The logo, which will appear on team uniforms and is already painted at centre court in the new gymnasium was created by Richard Chen. Richard is an animator at ARC Productions in Toronto who volunteered to create the logo. He has done design work on several animated films such as 'Gnomeo & Juliet', 'Dolphin Tale' and 'Camelot'.

School clothing with the Riverhawk logo will be offered to students and staff immediately beginning with T-shirt sales that are currently underway. A more extensive product line will be offered for sale before the end of the current school year.

Mark's Note:  For those that aren't aware, WDCS will be the new K-12 school in Walkerton; 3 schools are being replaced by this new "super school". 

Sneak Peak: Cameron Heights Gym Construction

As we know, the WCSSAA (boys) championship games were moved to Preston HS this year due to Cameron Heights being unavailable as a result of ongoing bleacher construction.

Judging by what I saw recently during a visit, it looks as though things are coming along quite nicely.  An added touch is the bleacher colour scheme, which is in the CHCI colours.

Looks like we can look forward to Semifinal Saturday and the WCSSAA finals at Cameron Heights again next year!

Waterloo Wolverines/NLH U19 Etobicoke Tournament Highlights

Came across this video documenting the success that the Waterloo Wolverines/NLH squad had in dominating the competition in Etobicoke a few weeks back.

Members of the team are:

Mike Pereira, Tyler Schneider, Jamie Keil, Adam Schneider, Cam Gibbs (Resurrection); Ben Reyhani (SJAM); Mike Finoro (OLOL), Brandon Busutill (GRCI); Jeff Rodrigues (UW via Resurrection); Adam Craig (UW via West Hill/Owen Sound); Amjed Osman (Laurier via CHCI).

OBA: Wildhawk Tournament in K-W This Weekend

On the club scene, a big tournament here locally this weekend as the 18th Annual "Wildhawk Basketball Tournament" (junior division - U19) goes down primarily at St. Mary's High School in Kitchener (the first round 8:30pm Burlington - Guelph CYO game will go at UW Columbia Ice Fields Gym).

The other first round games at St. Mary's are:

5:30pm - Waterloo Wildhawks vs. GBA Elite

7:00pm - Etobicoke Thunder Elite vs. Barrie Royals

8:30pm - Oakville Venom #1 vs. Etobicoke Thunder #1

Championship semifinals go at 11:30am and 1pm on Saturday, with the championship final set to tip at 7pm. 

(Note:  The above information is for the Junior tournament.  There are also Midget & Juvenile tournaments running at other sites around town).

Mark's CWOSSA "Award Winners": Junior Edition

We'll go into greater detail at a later point-in-time, but here's who I'm going with for my "all-CWOSSA" teams in junior.

JUNIOR CWOSSA MVP 

Mike Blumel, 6'3" F, St. Mary's HS (Gr 10)

JR. CWOSSA Rookie of the Year

Jamal Murray, 6'2" G, Grand River - Kit. 

JR. CWOSSA Newcomer of the Year

Michael Ganson, 5'10" G, Bishop Mac (Gr 10)

All-CWOSSA 1st Team

Mike Blumel, 6'3" F, St. Mary's (10)

Jamal Murray, 6'2" G, GRCI (9)

Michael Ganson, 5'10" G, BMAC (10)

Josh McEachern, 6'2" G/F, CWDHS (10)

Andrew Folkerson, 6'1" F, JF Ross (10) 

All-CWOSSA 2nd Team

Dashaun Lalor, 5'10" G, St. David (9)

Murtada Khamis, 5'11" G, GRCI (10)

Ousmane Kromah, 5'10" F, Eastwood (10)

Mo Hussien, 5'10" G, JF Ross (10)

Nathan Riley, 6'1" G, St. Mary's (10) 

Sasha Simic, 6'1" G/F, Cameron Hts (9)

All-CWOSSA "Third Team"
Jermaine Lyle, St. Mary's
TJ Lall, Galt Collegiate
Quinn Feeney, St. James
Nick Johnny, Waterloo CI
David Khayipangi, Lourdes
Stefan Simic, KCI
Adrian Mendoza, St. John's

Filip Cvrkalj All-Star Game Dunk

Here's video evidence of Filip Cvkralj's "and one" dunk at the WCSSAA All-Star game last week.....

Waterloo Wildhawks: U19 Thunder Jam Champs

Here's the 4th quarter of the Thunder Jam Championship Game from last weekend, where the Waterloo Wildhawks won the battle of the "hawks", defeating the Burlington Skyhawks in a 72-69 thriller.

Team members include:  Javon Masters & Juwan Miller (FHCI); Adam Voll, Alex Thompson and Henry Bankazo (SMHS); Jacob Ranton and Malcolm Piazza (WCI); Cory Kenning (RCSS); Filip Cvrkalj (GRCI); Vedran Dmitrovic (CHCI); and Josh Johnson (Holy Trinity - Simcoe).

Coaches are Aaron Tomlin (HHSS coach) and Scott Reynolds (GRCI coach).

Brantford Expositor: Local Basketball Stars Set To Shine

Article By:  Darryl Smart

Local high school basketball players will take part in the 23rd annual All Star Boys' Basketball Classic in Hamilton.

Brant County's best, coached by Pete Lovett of Brantford Collegiate Institute, will take on the Hamilton Catholic All Stars on April 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Cardinal Newman Secondary School, 127 Grays Rd., Stoney Creek.

In the other game of a double-header, the Halton All Stars will take on the Hamilton Public All Stars at 5 p.m.

The consolation final is April 4, at 5 p.m., while the championship will follow at 6:30 p.m.

A slam-dunk contest will take place before the championship, while a three-point contest will take place during halftime of both Tuesday games.

Admission to the games is $2 for children and $5 for adults.

2012 Brant County All-Stars

Tyler Campbell, Pauline Johnson, Grade 12, Small forward

Ben Candy, Brantford Collegiate, Grade 12, Power forward

Tim Dawson, St. John's, Grade 11, Point guard

Chris Gorski, Brantford Collegiate, Grade 11, Power forward

Marcus Hamilton, North Park, Grade 12, Shooting guard

Marcus Jones, North Park, Grade 12, Point guard

Jake Kelley, Paris, Grade 12, Shooting guard

Nick Minutillo, North Park, Grade 12, Small forward

Andre Toic, Assumption College, Grade 10, Shooting guard

Mackenzie Mark, Brantford Collegiate, Grade 11, Small forward

Logan Varga, North Park, Grade 12, Centre

J.P. Yurcich, St. John's, Grade 12, Small forward

Retrieved From:  http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2012/03/28/local-basketball-stars-set-to-shine

WCSSAA All-Star Game - Leading Scorers

Team White 130, Team Blue 111

Team White:  Filip Cvrkalj (GRCI) 36, Jack Simmons (Galt) 18, Javon Masters (FHCI) 16.

Team Blue:  Dani Elgadi (WCI) 23, Vedran Dmitrovic (CHCI) 21, Sean Holmes (PHS) 19.

Forest Heights' Masters Takes Home Mike Moser Award as WCSSAA MVP

In late February, Javon Masters took home the piece of hardware he really wanted this year when he and his Forest Heights Trojans captured the WCSSAA title.

On Wednesday, Masters added to his trophy case as he was named as the 2011-12 Mike Moser Award winner, presented annually to the MVP of the WCSSAA Senior Boys' Basketball league.

The announcement took place at halftime of the WCSSAA Senior All-Star Game at Waterloo Collegiate, which was won by Masters' team, Team White, 130-111 over Team Blue.

Despite the individual accomplishment, the 6'0" guard was quick to point out his Trojan teammates for helping in his success.

"I couldn't have done this without (them)," Masters noted, before also specifically mentioning his FHCI coach, Craig Wicken, as an instrumental part of his success.

"It's great to be recognized as MVP," Masters continued, "I put in a lot of hard work this season and beforehand in the off-season, and it's great to see it pay off."

"My parents have also been supportive this entire time, so I have to thank them as well," he added.

Masters' hard work has already drawn the attention of numerous NCAA D-1 coaches, including Cornell, Bucknell, Lehigh and Lafayette in particular, but I would expect that list to continue to grow throughout the summer during his club season.

Masters and his FHCI backcourt mate, Juwan Miller (also a first-team all-star selection) formed the most dynamic backcourt in the CWOSSA region.  Masters averaged 20.1 PPG during the regular season, and upped his average to 22.7 during the Trojan playoff run, including a 23-point effort in the championship final despite turning an ankle early in the contest.

Naturally, Masters listed championship night as his favourite moment of the season.

"It was a lot of work that we had put in as a team to achieve our goal," Masters said.

When I pressed him to give me his favourite "individual" memory from the season, he listed his dunk against Cameron Heights (below) as tops in that category:

"Just the way everyone reacted after was priceless, nothing was better," Masters said.

Except, just maybe, being named as the WCSSAA MVP.

Guelph's Achonwa Helps Power Irish to Final Four

RALEIGH, N.C. —Guelph’s Natalie Achonwa and her Notre Dame Fighting Irish will try to take care of unfinished business this weekend.

The Fighting Irish, who lost in last year’s NCAA women’s basketball title game, earned a repeat trip to the Final Four by knocking off Maryland 80-49 on Tuesday night in the Raleigh Regional at PNC Arena behind a triple-double from All-America point guard Skylar Diggins.

Diggins had 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds before leaving the game with just under two minutes to play. Achonwa, a sophomore post, came off the bench to add 18 points and seven rebounds and key a big run in the first half when Notre Dame (34-3) took control.

“I thought she was the player of the game,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said of Achonwa. “It was the best game she’s played all year.”

The six-foot three-inch Achonwa was a big difference, giving the Fighting Irish a larger presence up front.

“Natalie Achonwa did a good job of cutting off the ball screens and getting layups,” Diggins said.

For her part, Achonwa said she was the last option because the Irish guards were attracting so much attention on the perimeter.

“I was just open because I was the last person to guard,” said Achonwa, who was named to the all-region team.

In the Final Four on Sunday, Notre Dame will play Big East rival Connecticut, an 80-65 winner over Kentucky, in Denver. It will be the fourth meeting of the Irish and Huskies this season. Notre Dame won the two regular-season games but lost in the conference tournament final.

Baylor and Stanford will meet in the other national semifinal. This is only the second time in the 31-year history of the NCAA tournament that all four No. 1 women’s seeds made the Final Four. The other time was in 1989.

Retrieved From Guelph Mercury. 

CWOSSA End of Season Awards: Senior Rookie and Newcomers of The Year

Continuing on with our "end of season" awards, here's a look at the winners of my CWOSSA-wide "Rookie of the Year" and "Newcomer of the Year" awards:

Senior CWOSSA "Rookie of the Year"

Juwan Miller - Forest Heights CI, 5'10" G

Again, no real surprise here as Miller was dynamic this past season, and a big reason as to why the Trojans won a WCSSAA title and held the #1 CWOSSA ranking for the majority of the season.

Obviously, he presents a dual threat to opponents as he has the quickness to get to the rim, but also the ability to hit from deep --- essentially, pick your poison.  

Although it is his offensive exploits that generally garner attention (he was the top grade 11 scorer in CWOSSA), he's certainly one of the better defenders (particularly on-ball) in CWOSSA as well.  He can certainly get after and harass ball-handlers, and I'm sure he'd be among the CWOSSA-wide leaders in steals if stats were kept.  

Further evidence of the above could be seen this past weekend, where Miller locked down Grant Mullins (who scored 42 against St. Mary's in the SBCSS tournament final) and held him to 15 points as the Waterloo Wildhawks defeated Burlington in the finals of the Thunder Jam tournament.  Based upon the tweets that I saw come from there, he certainly impressed those in attendance.

Keep in mind he's only grade eleven right now, so we have at least another year of him to enjoy watching here locally!

Senior CWOSSA "Newcomer of the Year"

Nathaniel Ellis - SJAM (Waterloo), 6'2" G/F

Ellis, who moved to Waterloo from Tillsonburg, was a 2nd team WCSSAA all-star selection, and certainly made a huge impact in his first year of CWOSSA basketball.  He was instrumental in helping his Highlanders make an impressive playoff run through WCSSAA and advancing to the CWOSSA "AAAA" championships.

He certainly turned a lot of heads with his play during the playoffs, and was tremendous defensively, helping shut down a couple of Grand River's top guns in a road playoff upset, and then was also given top defensive assignments in the WCSSAA semfinals and finals.  

Of course, he was also a double-digit scorer for the Highlanders, and had timely baskets as well during their playoff run.  In particular, he hit for 6 of the final 7 SJAM points (back-to-back three-pointers) against WCI to help the 'Landers earn that hard-fought victory.  A dunk against CWDHS in CWOSSA put the 'Landers in position for a victory, though CW would tie on a buzzer-beating three before SJAM prevailed in OT.

CWOSSA End of Season Awards: Junior Rookie and Newcomers of The Year

We'll start our "end of season awards" by announcing the "Rookie of the Year" and "Newcomer of the Year" award winners (CWOSSA-wide) in both the junior and senior basketball divisions (senior to be posted separately).

The difference between a "rookie" and a "newcomer" would be that a "newcomer" has played in another school district before transferring to a CWOSSA school, whereas a rookie has not.

Let's get right to it:

Junior CWOSSA "Rookie of the Year"

Jamal Murray - Grand River, 6'2" G/F

No doubt about this one.  Murray was sensational throughout this past season, not only pouring in the points but also coming up with timely baskets, including several buzzer beaters during the season.  He keyed a 10-point comeback early in the season against St. Mary's, then would go on to hit two buzzer-beaters against Cameron Heights, the latter in the WCSSAA semifinals that advanced the Rens through to CWOSSA.

Murray is a smooth shooter who can "pull up and pop" with the best of them.  He's also gifted on the defensive end, where his length and wingspan can make things difficult for opponents.  I've been hearing rumblings that Murray may be moved up to the senior level next season at Grand River, so his one season of junior basketball may also have been his last.  That said, he certainly left a mark on WCSSAA and CWOSSA courts this season.

Junior CWOSSA "Newcomer of the Year"

Michael Ganson - Bishop Macdonell, 5'10" G

Ganson, who attended provincial powerhouse (and current OFSAA "AAAA" reigning back-to-back champions) Vaughan SS before moving to Guelph this year for grade ten, was a straight up scoring machine in games this season.

In fact, Ganson hit for 40+ points three times in league play, and he didn't do it against slouches either --- 44 against Lourdes ("AA" CWOSSA champions) and 44 against CWDHS (D10 finalists).  He added 42 against GCVI, 37 against Ross and another 36 against Lourdes in other league games.  Yikes!

Ganson is a great shooter, but also has an excellent mid-range game, which can be attributed to his shooting regimen of taking about 500 shots a day.  He's had some interest stateside from prep schools, so it will be interesting to see if he sticks around the CWOSSA region over the next year or two --- if he does, he will make a youthful Bishop Mac senior squad even better next season.  

He's a pleasure to watch, so obviously I'm hoping that he does.

Guelph Mercury: D10 MVP Sterne Will Be Returning For Another Year

Article By:  Rob Massey

GUELPH — Erik Sterne of the Centennial Spartans picked up one District 10 high school senior boys’ basketball award last night, but the Grade 12 student said he’ll be back next season to try to win the one he really wants.

“I will be returning for another year,” Sterne said. He was presented with the D10 league MVP award prior to Friday night’s D10-D8 all-star game at the Mitchell Athletics Centre, won 88-87 by D8.

“It’s great to get the MVP award, but I’m always looking for a championship. All I hope is that for next year, my final year, I can pull out a championship for my team.”

This season, Centennial was knocked out of the D10 playoffs in the semifinals. Sterne played in the 2011 D10 final, but the Spartans were defeated by the Ross Royals in that game.

In Friday’s all-star game, D8 led 24-19 at the end of the first quarter and 44-42 at the half and 68-64 after the third quarter.

Mike Friesen of Ross led D10 with 13 points including four on a pair of monster dunks while Evan Karl of Ross and Mike Finoro of Lourdes netted 12 apiece. Reid Goindi of Centre Wellington and Sterne had 10 each while Aleks Kludjerovic of Centennial and Shamlo Saeed of Ross collected eight apiece, Tim Francis of Centre Wellington and Ben King of Lourdes had four each, Maximillian Raab of Lourdes had three and Jesse Kendall of Bishop Macdonell had two. Also playing in the game were Justin Levesque of Orangeville, Nick Pellizzari of St. James and Andrew Hood of Guelph CVI.

“I know a lot of these guys from playing with them in club ball or anywhere else,” Sterne said of playing in the all-star game. “We all know each other. We know what our strengths are, but we come to have fun. If things go wrong, we’re not too worried. We’re just having fun.”

“It’s easy (to coach in the all-star game),” D10 coach Scott Robinson of the champion Lourdes Crusaders said. “I can sit back and enjoy the game and see some of the best players in our league all come together.”

Cam Gibbs of Resurrection collected 18 points for D8 while Alex Thompson of St. Mary’s had 14, Santo 

Dak of St. Benedict 12 and Cory Kenning of Resurrection 10.

Game MVPs were Saeed for D10 and Thompson for D8.

The game featured the 24-second clock, something that could be brought into the high school game in the next year or two. Currently there is no time limit other than 10 seconds to get the ball out of your own end.

“I like the 24-second clock,” Sterne said. “I believe it speeds the game up and that’s the way basketball was meant to be played.”

For most of the players in the all-star game, the 24-second clock was nothing new. Most play club ball and the clock and FIBA rules are used there. They’re also used in Canadian university play.

“It totally changes the strategy,” Robinson said. “A lot of the time if you’re playing with a 24-second clock, you have to design your plays to get quicker scores. You can’t run a clock for 40, 50 seconds trying to get one good layup or one good three-point shot.”

D10 won the junior all-star match 93-62. The hosts held quarter leads of 21-12, 45-31 and 68-49.

Michael Ganson of Bishop Mac was presented with the D10 league MVP award before the game.

Mo Hussien of Ross led D10 in the game with 21 points while Ganson had 16 and Tommy Yanchus of Ross 14.

Nathan Riley of St. Mary’s had 17 points for D8 while schoolmate Mike Blumel added 12.

Game MVPs were Hussien of D10 and Riley of D8.

Retrieved From:  http://www.guelphmercury.com/sports/highschool/article/693246--d10-mvp-sterne-will-return-for-another-shot-at-title