Phoenix, Flyers set to meet in championship semifinal
Anthony Heyes Jr. has an opportunity to write his name into the record books of the Kully’s/Standard Boys High School Basketball Tournament.
The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student at St. Francis is the son of former tournament most valuable player Anthony Heyes, who won the award for the St. Catharines Collegiate Saints in the 1997/98 season.
The younger Heyes admitted it would be thrill to become the first father/son combination to take home the MVP trophy.
“It would be amazing,” Heyes Jr., said. “It would be a dream. He was talking to me about that today. I really want to do that too.”
Heyes Jr., has put himself in the running, scoring 10 points Monday and following it up with a 17-point performance as the Saints topped the Denis Morris Reds 73-48 in championship round quarter-final play Tuesday.
Heyes Jr., said his father, who went on to play at Niagara College, has been a huge influence in his game.
“It’s huge. I look up to everything for him in basketball,” he said. “We played all the time. Every time we had a chance to shoot, we were doing it.”
Heyes Jr., has already won some hardware this season, taking home MVP honours from the Mike Sullivan Memorial Tournament at St. Francis as well as being named a tournament all star at the Cathedral Tournament last weekend which saw the Phoenix take home gold.
Saint Francis coach Jono Marcheterre loves what Heyes Jr., adds to the team, on and off the court.
“He is a real tough competitor and contributes in a lot of different ways,” Marcheterre said. “He gets to the rim and can shoot the ball with anyone. He is a physical player and doesn’t shy from contact but can also play a finesse game. What he really does though is gives us an experienced ball handler that compliments Andrew Ens.
“And he really is just a great kid. Gives you everything he has, every practice, every game and will come in early and shoot and stay late and shoot. He makes his teammates better with his play and his attitude. He has taken on a mentor role with the younger guys and that has helped our progress as a whole.”
Heyes Jr., joined the Phoenix this season after suiting up for the Niagara Prep program last year.
He would love a Standard title as well.
“We’ll see how things play out but we’re definitely going for gold,” he said.
Marcheterre tipped his cap to the Reds for giving the Phoenix a run for their money.
“A lot of credit to Denis Morris, and coach (Wade) Pychel,” he said. “We have played DM twice now and both games they played hard and caused some issues for us.
“We bent but did not break and as the boys are learning through the early part of the season it is about winning the game at hand one possession at a time and it isn’t always pretty.”
He also singled out Kully’s Regatta Sport Player of the Game Jakub Labanowicz.
“He was outstanding rebounding for us tonight.He was a difference maker,” Marcheterre said.
Pychel appreciated being able to play in the tournament.
“It was great,” he said. “Playing two games on the championship side is all you can ask for. You want them competing on the championship side and we’re playing one of the best teams in the province so we can hold our heads up high.
“I thought we played really hard and I told them we when see them down the road we’re going to give our absolute, best effort that we gave today.”
Scoring for the Phoenix were: Heyes Jr. 17; Andrew Ens 19; Josh Smith 18; Matt Furtino 6; Jakub Labanowicz 4; Tommy Goodwin 4; Jack Ciocca 3.
Scoring for the Reds were: Josh Kauffman 14; Cam Hastings 14; Michael Ukiomogbe 6; Max Barnowski 3; Robert Konkle 3; Mate Sansaet 3; Will Hastings 2; Owen Millar 2.
The Kully’s Regatta Sport Players of the Game were: Labanowicz and Cam Hastings.
FLYERS 72 GRYPHONS 32
The Eden Flyers advanced to the championship round semifinals with a convincing victory over the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons.
Scoring for the Flyers were: Riley Stewart 25; Chad Thorpe 19; Caleb Stewart 11; Luke Johnson 6; Edson Sanecki 3; VJ Phillips 2; Dylan Durlov 2; Luke Midgley 2; Graham Midgley 1.
Scoring for the Gryphons were: Kyle Barrett 16; Isaiah Vernon 6; Kinglsey Vernon 2; Noah Gmoser 2; Jon Dass 2; Jason Currie 2; Aaron Akharoh 1.
The Kully’s Regatta Sport Players of the Game were: Riley Stewart and Isaiah Vernon.
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