Reds hold off Golden Eagles
It was a manic Monday for Joshua Kaufman.
The 18-year-old, Grade 12B student poured in a game-high 21 points as the Denis Morris Reds defeated the Thorold Golden Eagles 72-57 in opening round action at the 60th Annual Standard High School Basketball Tournament.
“It felt awesome,” Kaufman said. “There was lots of energy in the gym and it was really exciting.”
Kaufman, who plays at the club level for the Pelham Panthers, was particularly effective from long range where he hit for six three-pointers. Overall, Reds canned 17 from behind the arc.
“For sure, it gets my confidence going,” he said when asked about being in the shooting groove. “When the shot is open I just want to take it.”
Kaufman also feels a shooter has to shoot, even if a few don’t go in.
“There’s been a few games this season where I’ve been off but my teammates and everyone around just tell me to keep shooting and in this game it paid off,” he said.
Denis Morris coach Wade Pychel loves what Kaufman brings to the floor.
“Josh is a 12B who is a fifth-year guy for us, and as you can see, he’s athletically gifted in terms of his length (6-foot-5) and we rely on him to hit those big shots,” Pychel said. “Last year he hit some big shots in some big games and in league play and tournaments and he showed today you can’t leave him wide open or he’ll make you pay for it.”
Pychel tipped his cap to the hard working Golden Eagles.
“We absolutely needed this game today to show us that other teams are going to play us hard no matter where it is or who is on their team or who is on our team,” he said. “Duper (Thorold coach Marc Dupont) coaches them really hard. They play a solid defence and I told our guys coming in they’re going to come out hard in their own gym in front of their crowd. It was good for us to hone in on what we needed to work on, especially defensively against a pretty good Thorold team.”
The Reds, who are ranked fifth, now take on the fourth-ranked West Niagara Wolfpack in the semifinals Tuesday.
“I’m going to explain to them we need to re-focus for tomorrow. We saw West Niagara last week and they gave us a good run,” Pychel said.
The defending consolation champions now have a chance to repeat on that side of the bracket.
“We’re the 12th seed and we knew we would have a tough game,” Dupont said. “I feel getting some of these games under our belts where we have to compete only gets us further along in the bracket and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Dupont feels his club needed to defend better.
“A little disappointed we didn’t get over the hump but in retrospect I have to give credit to Denis Morris. They ran their offence and got their shooters open and they didn’t miss,” Dupont said. “We have to do a better job of getting out on shooters and getting into the paint. There are some little things we need to work on offensively but I thought our guys really competed on the boards and that’s what’s kept us in it.”
STATS PACK
Reds 72 Golden Eagles 57
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Joshua Kaufman.
Boston Pizza Player of the Game: Tayte Fraser.
For the Denis Morris Reds: Kaufman 21; Nathan Sansaet 17; Demarco Perry 14; Travis Palmer 9; Cole Kelly 4; Gabriel Alzate 3; Sudais Abukar 2.
For the Thorold Golden Eagles: Fraser 16; Isaac Walker 12; Spencer Fluellon 11; Armann Sandhu 7; Venstone Denave 3; Zaniel Brown 2; Lebron Brew-Kellman 2; Kaleb Locatelli 2.
Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 5,600 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact bpotrecz@outlook.com for more information.
