Reds sink Blue Bears/Bulldogs ground Gryphons
Cole Kelly is a relative newcomer to the court. The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student grew up playing hockey and is also a speedy wide receiver in football.
Kelly only began playing organized basketball two years ago but you would never know it by his performance Wednesday.
Kelly netted 11 points and was solid on defence as the Denis Morris Reds defeated the Port Colborne Blue Bears 80-35 in an opening round game at the 68th Annual Welland Tribune Basketball Tournament.
Despite his inexperience on the hardcourt, Kelly has already become a go-to player.
“I’m one of the leaders,” he said. “I’m one of the captains with my fellow teammate Travis (Palmer). So I’m just kind of part of the team. I’m out here making sure everyone’s up, knows what they’re doing, knows where to go, when to be there. Just kind of run the plays, get loud.”
DM coach Wade Pychel is a big fan of Kelly.
“Cole’s been a two-year guy for us,” Pychel said. “Now he had to step up his leadership role. He’s a captain. He plays a lot more minutes than he did last year so everything has become elevated. He needs to point the ball when our starting point guard isn’t on and needs to play defence against the best player like he did today.
“Cole takes a lot on his shoulders. When he’s not playing well, he sort of hums and haws, but at the end of the day he realizes he has to step up. Today he did by winning player of the game and taking a leadership role for us.”
The Reds turned in a much better effort than in the first round of The Standard Tournament where they were upset by the Laura Secord Patriots.
“Definitely on my mind,” Kelly said. “Definitely wanted to come back out here and get the job done in this tournament, start off with a good start, get the boys ready for tomorrow. So we’re going in tomorrow confident, which is always a good thing.”
Kelly said the Reds did a good job preparing for the Blue Bears.
“They’re a fast motion team, shooting, good with the ball, good passing,” Kelly said. “So we just came out of the zone, tried to contain them to outside, maybe get them to take some bad shots like they’re not really used to. Just stand up on defence, get big with the boys. And that kind of all translated to the offensive game, got us open looks and ultimately won us the game.”
Pychel loved the Reds’ effort.
“Offensively we were rolling,” he said. “We looked much more organized than we have been in previous games. The ball was moving, we were getting in the high post against the zone, we’re cutting hard to the net on against the man-to-man defence and finishing our layups, that was the main thing. We’ve had some trouble finishing around the rim but our big guys were getting offensive boards and finishing and that’s what we needed today. We needed some energy and we got it right at the start of the game and it carried us to the end.”
STATS PACK
Reds 80 Blue Bears 35
Policella Homes Players of the Game: Myles Draper of Port Colborne and Cole Kelly of Denis Morris.
Denis Morris Reds: Geremy McRae 16; Karmen Jehish 15; London Perdue 13; Cole Kelly 11; Waldyn Peralta 10; Travis Palmer 9; Christian Olateru 6.
Port Colborne Blue Bears: Myles Draper 14; Jack Graham 11; Ethan Yalowica 6; Robbie Morvan 2; Ahmed Shahzad 2.
Bulldogs 78 Gryphons 56
Owen Scott had 19 and Drase Charles 18 points to lead the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs past the Greater Fort Erie Secondary School Gryphons 78-56 in an opening round game.
Nate Jones had 18 and Cade Tyrell 10 for the Gryphons.
Charles and Jones were named the Policella Homes Players of the Game.
Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: Owen Scott 19; Drase Charles 18; Leo Uttley 7; DeAndre Lindsay 6; Damian Nebesny 5; Isaak Pino Martinez 5; Noah Rose 5; Azlan Dhami 3; Hanza Omar 3; Seth Jafelice 2. Five points unaccounted for on game sheet.
Greater Fort Erie Secondary School Gryphons: Nate Jones 18; Cade Tyrell 10; Michael Bielich 9; Harland Kelly 7; Korde Hill 7; Aiden Storring 4; Carter Lewis 2.
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