No repeat for Reds

The Denis Morris Reds’ defence of their Ontario Catholic Classic consolation crown came to a grinding halt Friday after in the DM gym.

The host senior boys basketball team had built a double-digit, fourth quarter lead over the Bishop Tonnos Titans from Ancaster only to see it disappear in what would become a 62-57 loss in the 47th annual staging of the tournament.

“We sort of forgot to take care of the ball in the fourth quarter. We were rushing our possessions and not trying to run the shot clock down and get a good drive-and-dish kick shot but unfortunately that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Denis Morris head coach Wade Pychel said. “We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and take care of the ball when it matters the most.”

He could take some solace in the fact that his team did play three solid quarters to build a lead.

“When you play three good quarters maybe you run out of gas and forget the fundamentals that got you to that point in the game. That will hurt in the long run and some of our youth and immaturity showed a little bit today.”

Their consolation champ status was nice while it lasted.

“I was very proud of that team last year but this is a new team and I am super proud of them too,” Pychel said. “Unfortunately it came to an end but it is a good building block to go into playoffs for our league.”

Scoring for the Reds against Bishop Tonnos were: Demarco Perry 17; Travis Palmer 16; Joshua Kaufman 11; Sebastian Pena Puentes 6; Nathan Sansaet 3; and, Gabriel Alzate 3.

Leading scorers for the Titans were Darrius Mullings with 17 and Trey Montour with 15.

LANCERS 67 REDS 14

The Denis Morris Reds opened the Catholic Classic Friday morning with a 67-14 loss to the top-seeded Ursaline College Lancers.

Scoring for the Reds were: Kaufman 7; Perry 3; Palmer; 2; and, Pena Puentes 2.

Leading scorers for Ursaline College were Jack Grochmal (15), Jaxen Baker (14) and CJ Roberts (9).

“Ursaline is an elite level program and they are one of the best in the province and maybe even the country,” Pychel said. “They run up and down the floor, they can hit shots, they can board like crazy and we met our match and then some. I am glad the boys were able to play that game to give them a measuring stick as to what elite level programs look like. Hopefully we can build towards playing a team like that in the future.”