Finally healthy, Flyers advance to SOSSA
The Eden Flyers senior boys basketball team advanced to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championships with an 84-47 victory over the West Niagara Wolfpack Wednesday in the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 4 AAA championship game.
“It was the first game in a while that we have all been healthy and it was very noticeable,” Eden head coach Jonathon Thorpe said. “Having Riley (Stewart) back on the court really opened up opportunities for everyone and our defensive play to start the game was another key to our success.”
Scoring for Eden in the victory were: Riley Stewart 24; Caleb Stewart 19; Luke Johnson 9; Chad Thorpe 9; Dylan Durlov 6; Edson Sanecki 6; VJ Phillips 4; Graham Midgley 3; Luke Midgley 2; and, Kai Schatz 2.
Replying with points for West Niagara were: Kabeer Phull 20; Shiv Ramdial 11; Brodie Heidekamp 7; Tyler Foster 5; and, Jayden Khan 4.
“West Niagara played hard right to the end,” Thorpe said. “There was no quit in them which was impressive.”
Eden finished 7-3 in NRHSAA regular season play while West Niagara was 4-6. The Flyers, who lost in the finals of The Standard and Tribune basketball tournaments, advance to the SOSSA semifinals next Friday at A.N. Myer. Eden will play the Zone 1 champion at 9 a.m. with the winner advancing to the championship game at 4 p.m.
The Flyers’ recipe for success at SOSSA is simple.
“Stay healthy and make sure that we fully commit to the defensive end of the court,” Thorpe said. “Our key to success is disrupting what the opposition is trying to do. “(We have to) make them feel uncomfortable when they have the ball.”
The A.N. Myer Marauders defeated the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons 58-48 to earn the Zone 3 berth at SOSSA. The Zone 2 representative will be decided Wednesday in a game between the Denis Morris Reds and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
