Patriots guard shines in Review opener
Playing senior boys basketball in Grade 10 has paid big dividends for Saint Paul point guard Jerwyn Tutanes.
“It was getting used to the speed and understanding where I have to be and what I have to work on,” the 16-year-old said, after scoring 27 points to lead his team to a 73-39 victory over the Westlane Spartans Thursday in the opening game of the 41st Annual Niagara Falls Review Basketball Tournament.
He agrees he is a lot more comfortable now as a Grade 11 player.
“For me, I’m bringing up the ball, taking care of it and being the point guard that we need,” the 5-foot-7 player said.
He knows he is far from a finished product.
“I want to keep working on my ball-handling and defence, especially my defence,” he said. “I want to be that two-way guard.”
Tutanes spent last summer competing with the Niagara Tigers AAU basketball program and that jump-started his high school season.
“It really helped and the development was amazing,” he said. “There was so much talent, we worked hard and we learned so much.”
His biggest lesson was seeing how players play and what their personalities were at tournaments.
Saint Paul head coach Jeff MacDonald likes what Tutanes brings to the court.
“He’s a hard worker, a good leader and he is very effective at this level,” he said.
MacDonald is interested to see what the future brings for the young guard.
“He’s only in Grade 11 and he’s developing better athleticism,” he said. “We will have to wait and see. Maybe he will grow.”
Saint Paul advanced to the championship semifinals Friday at 11:30 a.m. versus Centennial while Westlane will battle the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons in the consolation semifinals at 8:30 a.m. All games are at Westlane.
The Spartans played a solid first half and went into halftime trailing 28-20.
“We had a good first half and I was happy with that,” Westlane coach Jamie Coull said. “In the second half, we couldn’t break their pressure and we had a lot of turnovers.”
Coull continues to see stretches of good play by his young team.
“We can see little parts that look really good, but it’s just inconsistency with young kids.”
STATS PACK
Patriots 73 Spartans 39
Niagara River Lions Players of the Game: Saint Paul’s Jerwyn Tutanes and Westlane’s Aaron Nguyen.
For the Saint Paul Patriots: Tutanes 27; Sandro Guarasci 12; John Graovaz 11; Jarrel Pappin 8; Will Schmahl 7; Justin Crisiti 4; Joe Ciampa 3; Joe Goulet 1.
For the Westlane Spartans: Nguyen 7; Adam Adam 7; Enrico Gibson 6; Jacob Marshall 5; Waleed Al-Basha 5; Ethan Smith 4; Abdulkadir Sheikh-Ali 3; Jordan Bouchard 2.
MUSTANGS 78 CYCLONES 69
The Saint Michael Mustangs advanced to the championship semifinals of the Review tournament with a 78-69 victory over the E.L. Crossley Cyclones Thursday.
The Mustangs built quarter leads of 26-15, 44-26 and 57-50 on the way to victory.
Scoring for the Mustangs were Hayden Spelier (14), Michael S. (13), Thomas Pruyn (11), Jomer Mateo (11), Steven Cabrara (11), Andy Xu (8) and Ben Lockhart (8).
Replying for the Cyclones were Carter Teal (18), Hye-Jun Song (16), Durieal Bell (14), Josh Lahn (8), Aiden Belding (6) and Elijah Taylor (5).
Players of the game were Song and Mateo.
Saint Michael plays A.N. Myer in the championship semifinals Friday at 1 p.m. while E.L. Crossley meets Niagara Christian in consolation play Friday at 10 a.m. Both games are at Westlane.
