Irish hang on versus Reds
Grade 10 player Trent Groulx is already a key member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish senior boys basketball team.
On Friday, Groulx was second on his team in scoring with nine points to help the Irish record a 59-51 victory over the Denis Morris Reds in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association (Zone 2) AAA championship game.
“Trent is in Grade 10 and he is a really good player. We have some time with him and he is an eager kid. He wants to get better and he wants to be a leader,” Notre Dame coach Cedric Kasongo said. “He shoots the ball with confidence and right now we are just trying to get him to continue to take on a leadership role and be more of a point guard. Right now, he is more is more of a shooting guard.”
The 15-year-old is enjoying being on the senior team.
“It feels great. There’s a bunch of great guys on the team and I love my team. And I have a really supportive coach.”
Kasongo has been a big part of Groulx’s development as a player and a leader.
“He is building up my confidence with the ball and my team play. They are all helping me out with everything.”
Groulx is content to play where and when he is asked.
“It’s whatever my coach puts me in. I just want to help out this team no matter what.”
He admits it has been adjustment to move up to the senior level.
“It was really tough at first but I am finding my rhythm now.”
He became comfortable about halfway through the season.
“The coach was giving me confidence and I had a lot of team support.”
Denis Morris led 12-11 after one quarter but a six-minute scoring drought to open the second quarter for the Reds helped Notre Dame enter halftime with a 30-17 lead.
The Irish built the lead to 51-35 after three quarters but the Reds wouldn’t quit. They cut the lead to 52-47 with two and half minutes left in the game but couldn’t get any closer.
“I didn’t like how close we let them come back but DM is a good team and Wade Pychel coaches them really, really hard,” Kasongo said. “We expected that. We didn’t want to that close, but we’ll take it. A win is a win.”
Notre Dame has made improvements as a team as the season has worn on.
“The team is coming along and we have had some time together to practise and the players have taken a leadership role. That has been good to see,” he said.
Kasongo is looking forward to Monday’s Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association semifinal against A.N. Myer. The former Notre Dame player has been part of a longstanding basketball rivalry between the two schools.
“There is a lot of history. I am fired up being on this side as a coach but it is more important for the guys.”
It won’t be easy to knock off the Zone 3 champions.
“We haven’t played them so we just have to play our game, be tough and physical and we have to win the rebounding game,” Kasongo said. “We had to slow them down. They have a really good player in Mani (Maynard) and they have a good team.”
Groulx has high hopes for SOSSA.
“We have a very hard-working team and a very good mindset.”
Pychel pointed to his team’s second-quarter scoring drought as a key moment in the game.
“When we are playing a team that is better than us, we can have those lulls or we are going to get into too deep of a hole. It is hard to come back even though we showed some fight at the end. I think it was a little too late for us at that point.”
He was more than happy with his team’s year.
“This season was amazing in terms of what we accomplished, the teams we beat and the goals that we met. I couldn’t be happier and I have to tip my cap to Notre Dame. They were better than us today but we gave them everything we could.”
The Ontario Catholic Classic consolation champions will be in rebuild mode next season.
“We only have three Grade 11s coming back but I like our junior system coming up. There are some players who can really help us,” Pychel said.
STATS PACK
IRISH 59 REDS 51
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Notre Dame’s Adam Ponting with 17 points, including five straight points late in the fourth quarter.
For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Adam Ponting 17; Trent Groulx 9; Kevin Schweyer 8; Chris Ortiz 7; Nicholas Capretta 5; Owen Phillips 4; Rylan Lauder 4.
For the Denis Morris Reds: Michael Ukiomogbe 18; Cam Hastings 10; Josh Kaufman 8; Nate Sansaet 6; Max Barnowski 6; Will Hastings 3.
Up next: Notre Dame advanced to play A.N. Myer in the SOSSA semifinals on Monday at 10:30 a.m. at Myer.
