Marauders qualify for SOSSA
The A.N. Myer Marauders took the first step toward redemption Wednesday.
The Marauders captured the Niagara Regional High School Athletic Association Zone 3 AAA senior boys basketball championship with a convincing 77-26 win over the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons and now advance to the SOSSA playdowns Friday, Feb. 23 in Saltfeet.
The Marauders dropped a heartbreaker in the final seconds to Notre Dame at last year’s Southern Ontario Secondary School Associations semifinals on their home court and have been looking forward to another chance to qualify for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships.
“We have a good core group of guys from last year and that’s kind of something that really eats away at them,” Myer coach Tyler Thomson said. “It was a tough loss for us last year. We’re looking forward to it and we’re going to spend a lot of time next week getting prepared for and ready for it.”
Myer forward Tanner Smith, who led the Marauders with 16 points Wednesday, watched from the stands last year as a junior as Notre Dame prevailed.
“Some of these Grade 12s on this team, we really want to get it done for them in their last year,” Smith said. “We want this more than anything. We’re here to play and here to win.”
Thompson felt the effort was a good tune up for next week.
“I’m happy with the way the guys played,” he said. “We executed our offensive sets, played hard defensively and it’s good to always have a good game under your belt before going to SOSSA or a championship game.”
Smith, who plays travel for the Niagara Falls Red Raiders U17 squad, also gave the effort a thumbs up.
“The thought process was play hard, run sets. We have some competition coming up next so we have to get ready for that,” Smith said. “I think things went fantastic. Maybe some sets could have been run more efficiently, but at the end of the day we got it done.”
Smith is enjoying his first season at the senior level.
“It’s been amazing. Tyler is an amazing coach. He’s brought a lot out in me I didn’t know I had,” Smith said. “My role is to grab boards, get some paint looks, and run the set. I have a lot of time to develop next year and maybe some stuff to change.”
Thomson feels Smith has a bright future.
“He’s a guy you can always count on to bring high energy to the court and always be engaged in whatever we’re doing, whether it’s in practice or in a game, either on the court or the bench. He’s a great guy to have around.”
Thomson also likes Smith’s versatility.
“He has a unique game where he can play inside but he’s also got a fairly nice shot, he’s not afraid to step out behind the arc and hit it. I think it depends where he wants to take his game because he excels both in the paint and outside.”
Fort Erie coach Dave Adamyk was philosophical following a game that saw the Gryphons missing Nate Jones with an ankle injury, big Cade Tyrell, Kingsley Vernon and Nik Alix, who has a hip problem.
“We had a game plan, we had a couple of guys who can shoot the ball, so ideally we were trying to get them shots and have them push the ball quickly and get those guys some shots,” he said. “Beyond that we wanted to slow it down as much as we could but they pressed — it was like they were reading my mind and they speeded the game up which didn’t help — but on top of that, we didn’t hit our shots as I would have liked it.
”They’re a good team, very solid and well-rounded and well-coached. If we’re going to lose to somebody, that’s a nice team to lose to.”
STATS PACK
Marauders 77 Gryphons 26
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Myer’s Tanner Smith with 16 points.
For the A.N. Myer Marauders: Smith 16; Shahzada Haider 12; Tavish McMahon 8; Noah Walters 8. Game sheet only accounted for 66 of Myer’s 77 points.
For the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons: Jason Currie 9; Harlend Kelly 9.
Up next: The Marauders advance to the SOSSA AA playdowns Feb. 23 in Saltfleet.
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