Irish rally past Mustangs
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have put a lot of faith in Andrew Zezella.
The 16-year-old, Grade 11 student has been handed a lot of responsibility and has more than held his own.
Zezella poured in a game high 25 points to lead the Fighting Irish past the Saint Michael Mustangs 69-53 in a championship quarter-final game Thursday at the 64th Annual Welland Tribune Basketball Tournament.
Zezella netted four three-pointers among his 25 points, two in each half, as the Irish rallied from a 21-11 deficit after one quarter.
“When they start to go it’s nice,” Zezella said. “I give a lot of credit to my teammates. I was open for most of the game.
“It feels good, but you can always make an improvement. I just want to get better every game.”
Zezella is in his second year of senior despite being only in Grade 11.
“I played senior last year. It helps a bit because it gets you used to the speed and everything,” he said.
Zezella, who plays travel with the Niagara Tigers, said that experience has brought his game to a new level.
“It helps a lot when it comes to these games,” he said.
Irish coach Mark Gallagher tipped his cap to Zezella for his performance, particularly on offence.
“I don’t know if we’re good enough to have anyone be just the shooter, but he knows for sure when he’s open we want him to take shots and we need him to make shots,” Gallagher said. “If he doesn’t make shots today in the second half, we don’t catch up and we don’t win.”
Zezella and David Jones give the Irish a strong backcourt.
“We were expecting both Andrew and David (Jones) as Grade 11s to be a big part of the team,” Gallagher said. “We’re young and inexperienced so we tried to play a really hard schedule to start the season so when we got into games like that we could be a little more poised.”
The Irish trailed 33-29 at the half but less than three minutes into the third quarter had turned the deficit into a 38-33 lead.
“I think you saw the kids on the bench and on the floor, once we started to make shots the energy level picked up and the defence got better and then it was a matter of momentum,” Gallagher said. “I think we overwhelmed them in the third quarter with how hard we played and with all the energy.”
The Irish had nine players hit the scoresheet.
“We’re asking a bunch of people to do a lot. If you’re going to be at a good team in a big game, you need everyone to do a little bit of everything,” Gallagher said.
The Irish, who won the tournament two years ago and lost in the final to Centennial last season, now square off versus the E.L. Crossley Cyclones Friday in the semifinals. Centennial and Governor Simcoe meet in the other semifinal.
“We maybe got a little bit spoiled two years ago in our first year together,” Gallagher said. “We won a really good game against Centennial.
“The kids are excited. This is a new group and a new experience.”
STATS PACK
Fighting Irish 69 Mustangs 53
Mountainview Homes Players of the Game: Notre Dame’s Andrew Zezella with 25 points and Westlane’s Steven Cabrara with 17 points.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Zezella 25; David Jones 13; Ralph Leroy 12; Jesse Raso 6; Anthony Cimino 5; Brandon Markowski 2; Nelson Collee 2; Austin Cooper 2; Roldin Valencia Cortes 1.
Saint Michael Mustangs: Cabrara 17; Jomer Mateo 14; Michael Sieber 7; Thomas Pruyn 4; Ben Lockhart 3; Nicholas Melone 2; Hayden Spelier 2; Andy Xu 2.
GATORS 80 BEARS 49
The Lakeshore Catholic Gators advanced to the Trib consolation semifinals with a 31-point victory over the Port Colborne Blue Bears Thursday.
Scoring for Lakeshore were: Samuel Beifuss (15); Aiden Plante (14); Thomas Cryer (9); Chance Beauregard (8); Nick Cryer (8); Nick Qua (5); Allan Pambianco (4); Travis Quinn-Hill 3; Lucvens Jean-Baptiste (2).
Port Colborne Blue Bears: Jake Bruno (17); Aidan Hawkins (11); Jack LaMarsh (6); Seth Roy (5); Colton Weaver (4); Dylan Culp (3); Mark Youngblut (2); Riley Lannan (1).
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