Bulldogs weather Storm

Will McAlpine made an impressive debut at point guard Monday for the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs senior boys basketball team.

The 12B student netted 25 points to power his team to a 55-33 victory over the Smithville Christian Storm in one of the opening games of the 60th Annual Standard High School Basketball Tournament played at Governor Simcoe.

“Last year was his first year playing with us at Churchill and he was a really valuable complimentary guard,” Churchill head coach Martin Cook said. “This year, I am expecting him to do a lot more and be our primary point guard and run the offence. He is going to need to score a lot of points and be a floor general for us. He is sort of the epitome of what I want this team to be: tough as nails, gritty and doing all this little things. There is a lot more development to go but I like what I saw from him today.”

The 18-year-old has much different role than last season.

“Last year we were full of star power and stuff and I was more of a secondary ball handler and a corner shooter role player,” the 6-foot-1 guard said. “Obviously we lost a lot of talent from last year. This year, I am stepping up more, bringing up the ball, being more confident, attacking downhill and doing it all for the team.”

He worked hard to get ready for his new role.

“I have been training a lot with Mazen (Yagubi) and Mujeeb (Omar). They were guys from the team last year who have helped me get better in my role.”

He is taking the lessons he learned last season and applying it to this campaign.

“I saw a lot of leadership. Brady (Pupek) and Mazen were great players and I am just trying to fit in and be a leader for these guys because not a lot of guys on our team play basketball outside school,” McAlpine said. “I am trying to get them in the spirit. This is our first game and I really want to win. Being part of a successful team last year showed me what it means to have good leaders who really care. I am looking out for my teammates on and off the court like someone once did for me.”

The Pelham Panthers travel player was OK in his role last season as a piece off the bench but he relishes his role as an important player on the Bulldogs.

“It’s a big change but I played a lot of basketball over the summer with travel and it has helped me adjust to being a better player and being more of a primary option.”

The third-seeded and defending champion Bulldogs trailed 9-2 in the first quarter and 23-14 in the second quarter against the 14th-seeded Storm before rallying for the victory.

“We only got about six team practices in and we were a little bit rusty. It was our first game and it was a little bit rough here and there but ultimately they are really tough kids and we knew that would be our strength this year,” Cook said. “We are not quite there yet and we have a lot of ways to go and we will be at our best in January or February. That’s really what our goal is this year.”

Smithville coach Zack Hoekstra was happy with his team’s performance, especially the first half.

“It was a great start for us. We haven’t had a practice this year and we have lot of new guys. Ultimately we were proud of the result even though it was a big loss at the end. They just ran away with it.”

The Storm couldn’t practice because seven or eight of their players, including all their starters, just finished a volleyball season that concluded with a silver medal at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations A championships.

“We just told them to play their hearts out and play good defence. Some of them remember it from last year but they don’t know the offence yet,” he said.

STATS PACK

Bulldogs 55 Storm 33

Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Churchill’s .Will McAlpine with 25 points.

Boston Pizza Player of the Game: Smithville Christian’s Silas Breukelman with 15 points.

For the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: McAlpine 25; Danial Nunez 7; Matteo Scaglione 7, Owen Scott 4, Brandon Plachy 4, Owen Cuthbert 4, Jared Cook 2 and Sawyer Neufeld 2.

For the Smithville Christian Storm: Silas Breukelman 15, Jeremy Talsma 12, Joseph Attia 3 and Cole Wiersma 3.