Phoenix win battle of unbeaten NCAA squads
Saint Francis’ Connor Landell tries to stop Saint Paul’s Jerwyn Tutanes as he drives towards the basket.
The showdown between the top two senior boys basketball teams in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association lived up to its billing for one quarter Thursday.
The Saint Paul Patriots came into the game with a 5-0 record and started strong, building an early 7-0 lead and holding on to a slim 16-15 advantage after one quarter. But then the Saint Francis Phoenix, who rolled into the game with a 4-0 record, started to take control. The visitors outscored the Patriots 25-7 in the second quarter to build a 40-23 lead at the half and never looked back on the way to a 73-53 victory.
“Judging from how we played today, I don’t think we can beat them,” Saint Paul head coach Jeff MacDonald said. “They are bigger, stronger, faster and better coached.
“I thought we did as well as we could for the players that we have and the talent that we have at this time.”
MacDonald said there was a lot of things that made the Phoenix the better basketball team Thursday.
“They shot the ball better, they ran the court better and they ran their stuff better.”
The Phoenix went into the game with plenty of respect for the Patriots.
“We knew that they were definitely going to give us a tough game and that we had to prepare,” Saint Francis head coach Jon Marcheterre said. “At last night’s practice, we looked at some of the things they do well and made sure we had a game plan to attack it.
“They are a good, well-coached team and we want to make sure that we were prepared. It’s nice for us to lockup the possibility of winning this league.”
Winning the NCAA doesn’t matter in terms of moving on to the next level of high school competition, but it’s important to the Phoenix.
“For us to win the league, it means something at our school,” Marcheterre said.
Helping the Phoenix record the win Thursday was Grade 10 player Connor Landell. The 6-foot-7 forward contributed 13 points and several blocked shots and rebounds.
“He is nice young player who is working hard to adjust to the senior game and learning the consistency required for him to make that leap as a Grade 10 at the senior level,” Marcheterre said. “He’s a really nice, soft-spoken kid who is starting to let his game speak for himself.”
Marcheterre has seen the 15-year-old improve at asserting himself in games.
“We believe he was ready for senior and his size speaks for itself, but he started the year a little timid and it looked like the game was going pretty quick for him, more mentally than physically,” he said. “He was trying to adjust to some of the concepts we run and it was a time and space thing.”
Landell was a member of the Saint Francis junior team that won the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association title last year. He also plays travel basketball with the Niagara Tigers AAU program in the summer and with the Northern Kings in Toronto.
“I want to get as far as I can in basketball and go somewhere,” Landell said.
One of his first steps in that direction was getting used to senior ball.
“I wasn’t showing my true colours and I was kind of scared at the start before I got used to it,” he said. “The biggest adjustments were to my attitude and my hustle.”
He admits to feeling a lot better at this point in the season.
“I am feeling a lot more comfortable now,” he said, adding he is enjoying his role as a starter with the Phoenix.
“Instead of coming off the bench and trying to warm up, you get started right away,” he said.
Landell likes where the Phoenix are at this point in the season.
“It’s going well,” he said. “We have good defence and good communication and everyone is playing great.”
STATS PACK
Phoenix 73 Patriots 53
Johnny Rocco’s/Mick and Angelo’s Players of the Game: Saint Paul’s Will Schmahl with 33 points.
For the Saint Francis Phoenix: Sam Braithwaite 25; Quinton Duemo 17; Connor Landell 13; Nick Hoggan 11; Igor M’Baya 7.
For the Saint Paul Patriots: Schmahl 33; Jerwyn Tutanes 12; Jarrel Papin 3; John Graovaz 2; Devon Schiller-Cleveland 2; Houssein Alayan 1.
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