Junior Royals win CWOSSA championship

March 4, 2016 · 0 Comments

The Centre Dufferin District High School Royals Junior basketball team won the 2015/16 Central Western Ontario Secondary School Athletics (CWOSSA) AA championship with a 73-60 win over the St. James Lions on February 27.

The Royals have had an outstanding season going undefeated in the regular season and in playoffs before defeating the Westside Thunder on February 22, for the District 4 championship to earn the right to go to CWOSSA as the number one seed.

“We’re going to continue what we were doing and trying to prepare for anything they will throw at us,” said coach Matt Barlow after the team’s championship win.

The Royals were up against some tough competition at the CWOSSA level facing seven other teams who also won their district titles.

On Friday morning, the Royals traveled to Cambridge to face the Sacred Heart Crusaders from Walkerton in their opening match up.

After a shaky start, the Royals cruised to a 58-27 victory over the Crusaders, led by Mark Taylor’s 18 points. That evening, the Royals then faced the defending champs Glenview Park Panthers from Cambridge in the quarterfinals, who last year defeated the Royals in the CWOSSA semifinals.

The Royals got their revenge with help from Jesse Sterling who made seven straight free throws down the stretch to help get the Royals the win with a score of 48-45.

In the semifinals, it was the St David’s Celtics from Waterloo who would look to stop the Royals with their strong guard play. The Royals had a very slow start, but stellar defense had them in front at the half.

The boys came out stronger in the second half, led by Dorian Jeffrey-Jones’ dominant inside play and sealed the deal 44-33.

In the championship game, the Royals were up against the St. James Lions out of Guelph led by 6’9 forward Mathew Sanvido.

The Royals jumped out to an early lead 16-5 at the end of the first quarter, but the Lions battled back to make it a 29-29 game at the half.

In the second half, the Royals exhibited excellent rebounding which was a combined effort by Shadame Hamilton, Jeffery-Jones, and Aiden Oliver.

The boys’ fast paced play allowed them to push the ball quickly up the court and knock down eleven three pointers (seven by Bannon), along with some nice mid-range floaters by Brandon Powell.

Their defense was great as well, sparked by the bench’s loud defense chant.

The Royals displayed excellent sportsmanship and class en-route to winning the school’s second ever CWOSSA basketball championship, 73-60. Leading scorers were Nicholas Bannon and Brandon Powell with 23 and 19 points respectively.

“The key to our success was playing within our systems and doing the things we worked on all year,” said Barlow. “We didn’t change our game plan at all. The last couple of weeks we spent some time playing through different late-game scenarios, and it gave the guys so much poise and confidence in crunch time.

“Their hard work and dedication to each other is what ultimately won us the championship. It was a true family atmosphere, and I am just thankful I was able to coach this group of respectful young men.”

By Brian Lockhart