Flyers, Reds move on to semifinals
Kai Schatz’ talent is catching up to his massive frame.
The Grade 12 student, who is listed at 6-foot-8, has grown into his body and is beginning to display some formidable skills.
Schatz poured in 16 points Tuesday as the Eden Flyers defeated the Greater Fort Erie Secondary School Gryphons 82-39 in a championship round quarter-final game at the 60th Annual Standard High School Basketball Tournament.
“Just to be clear, he got annoyed I said he was 6-foot-8, he said he’s 6-foot-9, so my bad,” Eden coach Jonathon Thorpe laughed.
Slight height discrepancy aside, Thorpe is amazed how quickly Schatz has developed.
“You can’t coach height and he’s come a really long ways,” Thorpe said. “Last year at the beginning of the season he was a tall guy but didn’t necessarily have the co-ordination to catch up with it because he’s grown so much, so quickly but by the end of last season we were seeing vast improvement.
“I coach him in travel ball (Niagara Rangers) and he took leaps and bounds and this year he is a problem for most teams.”
Schatz began playing in kindergarten where he was one of the taller kids but then stopped growing for a few years.
“Then the summer of Grade 10 I grew five or six inches,” Schatz said.
While his inside game is strong, Schatz is well aware of the need to be a more complete player.
“You just can’t stay inside. I’m definitely working on my shot, on my mid-range, trying to work on all aspects of my game like rebounding,” he said.
Schatz enjoyed the spotlight as the second-ranked Flyers cruised to an easy win.
“It feels pretty good, quarter-finals and a great experience playing in your home gym,” he said.
Schatz has high hopes for the Flyers this week.
“A championship would be nice. That’s what we’re all looking for as a team,” he said.
The Flyers jumped out to a 17-0 lead and led 34-3 after one quarter.
“I think we like to work off the fast break and get baskets off of it,” Schatz said. “It’s hard to maintain. I feel if we like to get a quick start and then pace it out for the rest of the game.”
Thorpe loved how his team stormed out of the gate.
“We talk about that all the time. How you start a game is crucial to set a tone and defensively we want to make the other team uncomfortable and that’s what we did,” he said.
Thorpe didn’t have to concern himself the Flyers would take their foot off the gas despite building a huge lead.
“We have two real vocal leaders on our team, Luke Midgley and Chad Thorpe, who will not let other guys take a break. They’re not going to take any sort of slack from anybody and they’ll let them know if they need to bring that energy up. I can leave that in their hands,” he said.
Fort Erie coach Dave Adamyk tipped his cap to the Flyers.
“That’s a good team,” he said. “When they had their starting crew out there, just to get over half and get a good shot set up, it was a challenge. I knew they were going to be good, I didn’t think they would be quite that good.
“We haven’t faced anything near that this year. It was good. We realize we have to be better at everything.”
STATS PACK
Flyers 82 Gryphons 39
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Eden’s Kai Schatz.
Boston Pizza Player of the Game: Greater Fort Erie’s Noah Gmoser.
For the Eden Flyers: Kai Schatz 16; Chad Thorpe 18; Dylan Durlov 11; Xavier Moccio 7; Luke Johnson 6; Josh Sanecki 6; Ty Klassen 5; Dominic Olesin 5; Luke Midgley 4; Brock Watson 2; Noah Whyte 2.
For the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons: Jason Currie 12; Noah Gmoser 10; Harland Kelly 6; Nate Jones 5; Nick Alix 4; Omar Khan 2.
Reds 69 Wolfpack 63
The No. 5-ranked Denis Morris Reds advanced, knocking off the fourth-ranked West Niagara Wolfpack by six.
For the second straight game, the Reds were led by Joshua Kaufman, who hit for a game-high 30 points.
STATS PACK
Reds 69 Wolfpack 63
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Joshua Kaufman.
Boston Pizza Player of the Game: Julian Sobota.
For the Denis Morris Reds: Joshua Kaufman 30; Owen Millar 15; Nathan Sansaet 13; Travis Palmer 11.
For the West Niagara Wolfpack: Julian Sobota 19; Ben Spittal 15; Aiden Taggart 10; Ben Unrau 9; Brodie Heidekamp 8; Owen Bowman 2.
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