Golden Eagles remain undefeated
The Thorold Golden Eagles senior boys basketball team remained perfect in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association play with a 66-57 victory over the visiting St. Catharines Collegiate Saints Wednesday.
But it didn’t come easy. After building quarter leads of 17-8, 29-15, 48-26, the Golden Eagles had to withstand a Collegiate barrage, led by three threes from Jerrell Plumadore, to escape with the victory.
“I knew they were a very spirited team and they never give up,” said Thorold head coach John (Coach K) Kwiatkowski. “But I also have to think about not just winning the game, but getting some players in. I take chances but I feel confident because those guys are really stepping up.”
Kwiatkowski knows his team will have to have depth to deal with any injuries during the season.
“What a great way to install confidence is to play at that level and still win,” he said.
Kwiatkowski was impressed with the Saints.
“That is a team that never stops working from beginning until end,” he said. “That’s a scary team and they hit some nice big threes, they pounded the boards and they showed discipline.”
Kwiatkowski credited Collegiate coaches Allison Mauro and Adria Campbell for their efforts,
“They are the most disciplined Collegiate team that I have seen in years,” he said. “If the players buy in, I can see great success for them.”
Mauro described her team’s performance Wednesday as not its best.
“I think if we would have played like we did in the last two minutes of the game, it would have been a much different game,” she said. “We have to work on a lot of things as a team: playing as a team, staying calm and keeping our heads.”
She expects to see Thorold again in the NRHSAA playoffs.
“Hopefully, it will be a different game,” Mauro said. “Thorold is a really good team. They are disciplined, they listen and they don’t play selfish and those are things that we have to work on, for sure, moving forward.
“Overall, the last quarter showed we can play with them and we just have to keep that going.”
Thorold improved to 3-0 in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association play with the victory while Collegiate fell to 1-2 with the loss.
GOLDEN EAGLES 61 REDCOATS 55
In an earlier game, the Golden Eagles defeated the Governor Simcoe Redcoats 61-55.
Top scorers for Thorold were Colton Spencer (18), Braydon Harrietha (12), Elijah Patcheson (10), Yvan Canlas (6) and Devon Maltby (5).
Leading scorers for Governor Simcoe were Max Grant (13), Darren Johnston (10), Mitch McPherson (9) and Mason MacEachern (5).
STATS PACK
Golden Eagles 66 Saints 57
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s Player of the Game: Thorold’s Colton Spencer with 19 points.
For the Thorold Golden Eagles: Spencer 19; Elijah Patcheson 15; Braydon Harrietha 13; Yvan Canlas 8; Jack Yarnell 4; Nathan Brew 4; Evence Devane 3.
For the St. Catharines Collegiate Saints: Tykree Llewellyn 21; Clayton Thomas-Harris 12; Jerrell Plumadore 11; Joseph Waterman 8; Justin Crawford 5.
