Sweet revenge for Saints
It didn’t take long for the St. Catharines Collegiate Saints to get even with the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons.
Just over a week after dropping a tough 72-64 decision to the Gryphons in a consolation round semifinal game at The Standard Boys High School Tournament, the Saints got their revenge Friday.
Led by a strong two-way game from tournament most valuable player Nathan Taylor, the Saints edged the Gryphons 66-59 in the championship final of the Turner Clarke Classic basketball tournament at Port Colborne High School.
“I don’t worry about MVP awards, I just want to win,” said Taylor, a 17-year-old, Grade 12 student. “It was really fun (to beat Fort Erie). They are a very tough team.”
Taylor poured in 14 points Friday, including four key three-pointers.
“I usually like to bring my defence to the team and when if I have an open shot, I take the open shot,” he said.
Turner enjoyed being on the winning side after last week’s defeat.
“It’s very fun. I love winning and our team enjoys winning too. I feel like we need this to get stronger as a team and enjoy the season a little more.”
Saints co-coach Allison Mauro loves what Taylor brings to the court.
“We have a whole team of guys who can be the player of the game on any given day, but the thing about Nathan Taylor is he is the unsung hero,” said Mauro, who coaches the Saints with Adria Campbell. “He had a ton of points today, clutch baskets.
“In every single game this season, he’s not always the top scorer on the leader board, but he works hard and does the grunt work. He doesn’t always get recognized for all-star teams, but he is definitely the heart of the team.”
Mauro loved how the Saints responded to the challenge of playing the Gryphons again.
“It was so exciting to come back and have a rematch of the Standard game we lost,” she said. “It was nice because our guys developed more, even in a week. We have our presses in now. It was nice to have the opportunity to play them again and see what we could do as we start to gel as a team.”
The Saints led 28-21 at the half and 56-46 after three quarters. The Gryphons made several runs at the Saints and got the deficit to as little as three points at 62-59 with just under two minutes to play.
“I think we have to learn that with a team like GFESS, it’s never over,” Mauro said. “They have so much heart and so much commitment that they can come back at any time. One of their players (Austin Ladouceur) got hot. He’s a great shooter and that can hurt us so I had to call a time out and adjust our defence because they were definitely coming back and were on a roll.
“They had us on the edge of our seats.”
Fort Erie coach Dave Adamek lamented his club’s lack of offence early.
“We ran our stuff really well, but it just wasn’t dropping as much as we would have liked it to,” he said. “They are a strong team and they’re going to win the battle under the net. We tried our best but we knew that going in.
“At the end of the day, they outplayed us.”
The Eden Flyers topped the Lakeshore Catholic Gators 63-58 in the consolation final.
Luke Reinaerts netted 26 and Charlie Edgar 25 for the Flyers.
Nick Cryer paced the Gators with 16 while Allan Pambianco added 11.
The tournament is named in honour of Turner Clarke, who died in a boating accident in the summer of 2017.
Port Colborne Blue Bears coach Scott Grover said he was thrilled with how things went for the inaugural edition of the tournament.
“We had a junior tournament, a small mini tournament last year, but this is the first senior tournament,” he said. “It’s going to be a tradition here.
“This pays for all of our operating costs and we can give a kid a really decent scholarship at the end of the year.”
Grover also gave props to the community for chipping in financially, particularly The Healthy Cupboard, who donated shirts to all the participants.
“The tournament means so much. You could feel the love in the gym,” Mauro said.
Stats pack
Saints 66 Gryphons 59
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s Player of the Game: Collegiate guard and tournament most valuable player Nathan Taylor with 14 points and strong defensive play.
St. Catharines Collegiate Saints: Taylor 14; Clayton Thomas-Harris 19; Tykree Llewellyn 15; Joseph Waterman 15; Justin Crawford 2; Sheldon Brown 1.
Greater Fort Erie Gryphons: Austin Ladouceur 20; Lucas VanNatter 19; Zack Tyrlell 10; Micha Stewart 8; Keegan Mitchell 1. One point unaccounted for on scoresheet.
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