Phoenix capture Zone 4 AA hoops crown; Patriots top Zone 3
The St. Francis Phoenix juggernaut rolled on Friday afternoon at St. Catharines Collegiate.
With a 98-52 victory over the St. Catharines Collegiate Saints, the St. Francis senior boys basketball team added another Zone 4 AA championship to its impressive resume.
“A lot of it is coaching and a lot of it is experience,” Phoenix guard Quinton Duemo said, when asked why the school is so successful. “What the coaches teach us at practice really helps us to come together as a team.”
The squad will now head to Saint Paul Monday in search of another Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association crown.
The reigning Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations silver medalists have high expectations for the season.
“Hopefully we can get back there again and win it this time,” Duemo said, adding the team never feels the pressure to carry on the winning tradition. “We just go into the gym every day, work hard and take on what’s down the road.”
The latest step on the road to OFSAA was beating Collegiate Friday.
“I’m happy for the guys and it’s a nice win for us,” St. Francis coach Jon Marcheterre said. “It wasn’t quite what the score indicated. The first five or six minutes were pretty intense and Collegiate gave us a bit of a scare early on.”
The game was actually tied 9-9 at that point in the first quarter before St. Francis scored 16 straight points to built a 25-9 lead at the end of the quarter. They added eight more points to open the second quarter to push the run to 24-0 and the game was all but over. St. Francis did what it always does to put away its opponents as the Phoenix used their full-court press to take charge of the game.
“It is the intensity,” Collegiate coach Allison Mauro said, in explaining the success of the Phoenix press. “We have played against presses before, but it’s the aggression on the front line that catches everyone off guard.
“Telling the guys to slow down and play with their eyes only works so much.”
One might describe the press as St. Francis’ secret weapon, but everyone knows that it’s coming.
“The guys know that it is what makes St. Francis St Francis,” Marcheterre said. “It’s our commitment to it and our ability to adjust depending on how the offence is going to try and break it. We work at it and we like to hang our hat on it.”
Duemo describes the press as five players working as one.
“We all move as a whole group and that really helps us lock down the other team,” he said.
Duemo scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the second quarter. Marcheterre describes him as the unsung hero on the Phoenix squad.
“He is a tremendous athlete — in Grade 9 he won OFSAA high jump — and he’s a young leader here,” he said. “Some of the older guys aren’t as vocal, but Quinton isn’t afraid to speak up and he does the hard work and the less glamorous work.”
The Grade 11 guard plays strong defence, rebounds well and has improved his shot tremendously this year.
“Out of all our players, he is the most improved player and I couldn’t be happier with what he is bringing to the team,” Marcheterre said.
Duemo feels his defence, court vision and decision making are the biggest improvements he has made this season. The 17-year-old is a multi-sport athlete, but his first love is now basketball.
Despite losing Friday, Mauro, who coaches the Collegiate team along with Adria Campbell, was pleased with her team’s performance and its breakthrough season.
“Coming in, we knew what we were up against and we told our guys to play with heart because St. Francis is very talented,” she said. “At the end, we are still happy that we made it this far and our guys played the whole game with class, heart and skill.
“We have nothing to be disappointed about.”
It was a tough end to what was a great season for the Saints.
“At the start of the season, no one expected us to be here,” Mauro said. “We are so impressed with what they have done and we loved coaching this team.”
STATS PACK
Phoenix 98 Saints 52
Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s Player of the Game: St. Francis’ Quinton Duemo with 19 points, including 13 in the second quarter.
For the St. Francis Phoenix: Duemo 19; Sacade Kasamba 18; Conner Landell 14; Sam Braithwaite 13; Nick Hoggan 12; Igor M’Baya 11; Grady Vandersloot 4; Luc Fortin 3; Enrico Rescigno 2; Cam Van Hezewyk 2; Marko Al-Kayed 1; Andres Pelaez 1.
For the St. Catharines Collegiate Saints: Clayton Thomas-Harris 13; Jerrell Plumadore 9; Tykree Llewellyn 8; Shawn Chislett 7; Sheldon Brown 6; Justin Crawford 6; Joseph Waterman 3.
PATRIOTS 58 COUGARS 52
The Saint Paul Patriots will host the SOSSA championships in their home gym after knocking off the Centennial Cougars 58-52 in the Zone 3 AA final Friday afternoon.
Will Schmahl netted 26 and Jerwyn Tutanes added 20 to lead the Patriots to victory. Also scoring points for Saint Paul were John Graovaz (6), Sandro Guarasci (4) and Jarrel Pappin (2).
Scoring for Centennial were Reese Radobenko (20), Nick Yioldassis (9), Jonah Preston (8), Jackson McNeil (8), Jack Halliday (4), Ryan Stark (3).
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