Tigers capture consolation title
It seems only fitting the Ridley College Tigers emerged with a championship at the 60th Anniversary edition of the Standard High School Basketball Tournament.
The tournament was co-founded by Ridley coach Carl Dorland along with Standard sports editor Jack Gatecliff and quickly became a staple of the local sports community in St. Catharines.
The Tigers defeated the Smithville Christian Storm 59-55 Friday night at the St. Catharines Collegiate to capture their first consolation crown since 2016/2017 and third overall.
“We love it,” Ridley coach Josh Doan said. “I talk every year about how important it is we play in this tournament. Being stewards of the start of the tournament, we take it very seriously. Lineage is a big thing at our school since 1889 and we love having these moments.
“This is one of those classic high school basketball tournaments and they’re disappearing all over the country and we love that for 60 years we can call this one home for us.”
The Tigers are composed of players from all over the globe but Ridley’s Nick Nymbilli, a resident of Grimsby, understands the importance of the tournament in the Niagara Region.
“It felt great. This is the first championship I have won with Ridley and I’ve been here since Grade 9,” he said. “It’s a big thing for me and if you’re from the Niagara Region you may have had grandparents who played in the tournament.”
The Tigers raced out to a 25-4 lead after one quarter and appeared poised to run away with the game, but ran out of steam in the second half.
“It’s the opposite of yesterday (Thursday). We had our best first quarter of the year and it’s almost like we ran so hard in transition to get away from those athletic guys that we tired ourselves out and that really affected us in the second half defensively,” Doan said. “We played zone defence for most of the game and you can only play a zone for so long and people catch on.
“We held on just long enough. We’re a young team and we made a lot of mistakes at the end.”
Doan admits it is a challenge to mould a group of players from across the world into a cohesive unit so early in the season.
“It’s take a long time and they’re young,” he said. “Learning how to play together, there’s different styles of basketball across the world, but they did a great job coming together. This tournament has been really good for them as group chemistry-wise. We made so many great plays.”
The Storm, who were making their first appearance on Friday night of the tournament, clawed their way back into the game and only trailed 47-38 after three quarters.
“I really appreciate our guys hustle and the way they came back and their drive,” Storm coach Patrick Ghaly said. “The only reason they came back was because they believed in themselves.
“I’m super proud of them.”
Ghaly said the message at halftime was simple.
“We told them we had nothing to lose. We’re the 14th-seed in the tournament and we made it all the way to Friday without a single practice as a team.”
STATS PACK
Tigers 59 Storm 55
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Felix Hadzic of Ridley.
Boston Pizza Player of the Game: Jeremy Talsma of Smithville.
For the Ridley College Tigers: Felix Hadzic 23; Michael Creglia 15; Parker Emanoilidis 8; Pranav Wadhawan 6; Luka Jankovic 6; Amr Fayed 1.
For the Smithville Christian Storm: Jeremy Talsma 28; Christopher Nyakabasa 12; Silas Breukelman 7; Cole Wiersma 5; Lincoln van der Wier 3.
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