Thorpe and Flyers crowned Tribune champions

Redemption came one year later for Eden’s Chad Thorpe Saturday night in the championship game of the 67th Annual Welland Tribune Basketball Tournament.

Last year, the 12B point guard missed the game’s final shot in double overtime that would have given his team a 67-66 victory over the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs in the Tribune final. This time around, when the final buzzer sounded in the championship game, Thorpe would end up holding tournament MVP and First Team All-star trophies as his team celebrated a hard-fought 70-55 victory over the A.N. Myer Marauders.

“Ever since that day was tough because that shot played back in my head every single day. To come back here and claim this title means a lot after missing that shot and the toll that it took on the team and me individually,” the 18-year-old said. “It is time to put that behind us and celebrate, for sure.”

Winning the MVP trophy made the moment even more special for Thorpe, who averaged 22.7 points per game in the tourney, including 15 points in the final.

“It’s awesome and it means a lot as a person and a teammate to these guys. I love the guys that are on my team and to be able to be a leader and have a positive impact is great. Without these guys, we don’t win this tournament and I don’t get this MVP trophy. It’s a team effort.”

It was the first-ever Tribune championship for Eden.

“We were in the finals last year and we all knew that we wanted it,” Chad Thorpe said. “We talked a little bit about it but today was just coming in, working hard and playing every second of this game like it was 0-0 the entire game.”

Being the first Eden team to hoist a Tribune championship trophy was not lost on Thorpe.

“It is a special moment any time you are the first in anything and to represent your school means so much, especially for me and Dylan Durlov coming back for an extra year of high school,” he said. “Being able to achieve something like this is an awesome feeling.”

Thorpe is hoping there are more awesome feelings ahead this season after the Flyers made it to the quarter-finals of the 2023 Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAA championships.

“Since the Standard (tournament) we have been looking to improve and we have talked all season that we have to be peaking at OFSAA. That is what we are going to look to do. Our end goal is an OFSAA placement or an OFSAA medal.”

Eden head coach Jonathan Thorpe was all smiles after the win.

“It’s amazing and I am so happy for these guys. That is the biggest thing because they are such an amazing group of kids,” he said. “They worked so hard and had such a great week and they really, really deserve it. I am so happy for them to have this experience.”

The Flyers jumped out to an 18-2 lead in the first quarter and took a 20-9 advantage into the second quarter. The lead was gone with 1:20 left in the second quarter and Myer went into the half clinging to a 31-30 lead.

“We got into some foul trouble so I had to change my normal substitution pattern and that threw us off a little bit. We had a four-minute lull where I don’t think we scored,” Jonathan Thorpe said. “But the guys were awesome in the change room. There was no panic and there was no getting on each other. It was ‘We got this and let’s get back to what we do well.’ That was the message from me and all the guys were saying that.”

Eden netted the first seven points of the third quarter and would built a 54-44 lead heading into the final quarter. The Marauders cut the lead to seven points at the start of the quarter and again with 4:52 left in the game but that would be as close as they would get.

Eden received key contributions Saturday from bench players Xavier Moccio, Ty Klassen, Bennett O’Connor and the starting five were their usual selves.

“When it comes to our five starters, it is such a balanced attack and it can be any of those five being the leading scorer,” Jonathan Thorpe said. “Luke Midgley didn’t score a lot in this tournament but then in the championship game he got a lot of buckets. It was an all-around team effort.”

The same could be said for the Marauders.

“These guys are incredible. I can always trust that they’re going to go out there and give it their all. You can’t be upset with that effort at all,” Myer head coach Tyler Thomson said. “Congratulations to Eden. They’re a tough team and they go through their streaks where they shoot the ball incredibly well and it’s tough to find ways to stop them because they can score from so many different spots on the floor.

“They went on a big run at the start of the first half and again at the start of the second half and we had trouble catching up with that and I think that made a huge difference in the game.”

Jonathan Thorpe was impressed with the Marauders.

“Myer played awesome. They really threw a lot at us and had a great game.”

Joining Chad Thorpe on the First All-Star Team were: Eden’s Kai Schatz, who averaged 16 points per game in the tournament, including 13 in the final; Eden’s Dylan Durlov, who averaged 9.7 points per game in the tournament, including 13 in the final; Myer’s Isaiah Corsaro-Oteng, who averaged 17.3 points per game in the tournament, including nine in the final; and, Saint Paul’s Mark Cruz,  who averaged 13.3 points per game in the tournament, including 11 in the consolation final.

Myer’s Noah Walters was awarded the Jeff Adams Outstanding Defensive Player of the Tournament and was placed on the Second All-Star Team. He averaged 13 points per game in the tournament, including 16 in the championship game.

Also named to the Second All-Star Team were: E.L. Crossley’s Matthew Kleinsmith, who averaged 24.5 points per game in the tournament, including 20 in the consolation final; Myer’s Jayke Arnold, who averaged 13,5 points per game in the tournament, including 10 in the final; Saint Paul’s Dante DeBenedetti, who averaged 14 points per game in the tournament, including 19 in the consolation final; and, Notre Dame’s Trent Groulx, who averaged 16.7 points per game in the tournament, including in the 14 in the semifinals.

Jonathan Thorpe was given the Caesar Hajdu Coaches Award.

E.L. Crossley was named the most sportsmanlike team at the tournament and Kleinsmith was given the most sportsmanlike player award.

At halftime of the championship game, Owen Phillips of Notre Dame was presented with the Tribune Tournament Scholarship and Eden’s Ethan Kelly was awarded the Bob Tomiuck Sixth Man Award

STATS PACK

Flyers 70 Marauders 55

Mountainview Building Group Players of the Game: Eden’s  Luke Midgley and Myer’s Noah Walters.

For the Eden Flyers: Midgley 16; Chad Thorpe 15; Kai Schatz 13; Dylan Durlov 13; Luke Johnson 6; Xavier Moccio 6; Bennett O’Connor 1.

For the A.N. Myer Marauders: Noah Walters 16; Tavish McMahon 13; Jayke Arnold 10; Isaiah Corsaro-Oteng 9; Louis Pullano 7.