Irish silence Thunder in NCAA final
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish senior boys basketball team concluded a roller coaster season Thursday by defeating the visiting Blessed Trinity Thunder 59-45 in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association AAA championship game.
“It was a difficult season, for sure, with kids getting sick and kids getting injured,” Notre Dame head coach Mark Gallagher said. “It was hard and we really didn’t get into any flow as the season went along and it showed today. We weren’t really ready for the press break and some our half-court stuff.”
One of the players who had to step up because of injuries was Grade 11 point guard Owen Phillips.
“We started the year with Owen and Jayson (Madume) as our two point guards and we were going to try and rely on both of them to handle the weight of bringing up the ball,” Gallagher said. “When Jayson got hurt before Christmas, Owen really took over the point guard position.”
Phillips didn’t disappoint.
“He plays tough, he plays hard and he passes the ball well,” Gallagher said.
The Grade 11 student also scored the ball well netting 21 points in the final, including 17 in the first half.
“We had a good season but my duo in the backcourt, Jayson, got injured earlier in the year,” the 16-year-old said. “But we still continued to play hard and we came out on top at the end.”
Phillips was sad to see Madume get injured but he relished the added responsibilities that came his way.
“I enjoyed bringing the ball up more often and taking more of the shots. I like how hard the competition was because I like to push myself.”
He believes he has come out of the high school season a better player.
“I improved on helping us work better as a team and drawing up plays when we needed them.”
Phillips was thrilled to win a NCAA crown Thursday.
“It’s great. We lost in the finals in Grade 9 and it is good to finally win.”
The win marked the end of the road for the Fighting Irish but Phillips will play his first travel basketball tournament this weekend as a member of the Niagara United under-17 squad.
“We haven’t played in a couple of years and I am looking forward to getting back at it.”
Gallagher was impressed with the effort the Thunder came up with against his squad.
“It was a close game and they played us tough and really hard. They obviously came prepared,” he said. “I thought we had a chance early to stretch the score out a little bit but we let them hang around and they made some shots and kept it close.”
The Thunder played Notre Dame much tougher than Feb. 28 when they lost 76-47 in regular season action.
“It was a decent start to the game. They went on a few runs and we had our runs, but at the end of the day we got into foul trouble to where four of our players fouled out,” Thunder head coach Austin Anderson said. “We were already low on bodies in terms of who could actually contribute. It was a tough position to be in when you are not making shots. It was probably a little closer than it should have been at the end because they did outplay us. Congratulations to Notre Dame but it was a tough loss.”
Anderson and his Thunder team are now looking forward to playing in next week’s BPSN Best of Niagara Boys Basketball Tournament.
“We’re excited because, for the first time, I think we will have our full team. It will be nice to see how we perform next week.”
STATS PACK
Fighting Irish 59 Thunder 45
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Notre Dame’s Lucas Ponting with 24 points.
For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Ponting 24; Owen Phillips 21; Ryan Lauder 9; Chris Ortiz 3; Nathaniel Audino 2.
For the Blessed Trinity Thunder: Michael Gore 15; Benjamin Peters 11; Luka Vukojev 6; Caleb Olomide 4; Luc DiFlavio 3; Mawana Chidovi 2; Michael Akinpetide 2; Jacob Persaud 2.
Up next: Notre Dame’s season is done. Blessed Trinity will compete in the BPSN Best in Niagara Basketball Tournament starting with a game Monday at 5 p.m. at A.N. Myer against the Marauders.
