Ross, Centennial grab berths in D10 basketball finals
GUELPH – The Ross Royals seniors and Centennial Spartans juniors posted victories on their home courts in District 10 boys’ basketball delayed semifinal matches Tuesday to gain berths in championship games Wednesday.
Ross handed the Bishop Macdonell Celtics a 71-59 setback in the senior semifinal while Centennial defeated Ross 63-55 in the junior semifinal.
Both the Ross seniors and Centennial juniors had finished atop the standings in their respective leagues.
The games were delayed from last week due to the lockdown at Ross Tuesday and freezing rain Friday.
Senior Boys’ Basketball
Ross withstood an early surge from the Celtics as the visitors had an early 11-2 lead. The Royals cut that down to a 19-18 deficit at the end of the first quarter and they lead the Celtics 40-31 at halftime thanks to sinking four three-pointers in the second quarter.
“This is a huge win,” Ross coach Charlie Douglas said. “Bishop Mac is a fantastic team. They have pushed us in all three games and like their coach said, we bring out the best in them and they bring out the best in us. They’re a fantastic team and it was a lot of pressure in the semifinal. Having to wait for so long is very difficult. Three times it was postponed and we finally got a chance to play. Now we’re gearing up for a game tomorrow against Lourdes.”
The Royals and Celtics battled evenly throughout the third quarter as Ross carried a 55-47 lead into the fourth quarter. Bishop Mac managed to get the gap down to five points with four minutes to go before the Royals pulled away.
Robert Vosper led Ross with 29 points including nine on free throws as the Royals scored 20 points on foul shots in the game. Landon Hart had 22 points, 10 on freebies, while Mason Bair added 10 points.
Ben Pigozzo sparked Bishop Mac with 20 points while Hayden Schut had 11, Joey Guanzon 10 and Cole Phillips eight.
The Royals and the Lourdes Crusaders are to meet in the final at 4 p.m. at St. James. That’s a quick turnaround from Tuesday afternoon’s semifinal.
“We’ve been in lots of tournaments where we’ve played two games in a day,” Douglas said. “It would be nice to work on a couple of things because Lourdes is another fantastic team. D10 is stacked this year. There are a lot of really good teams at the AA level and the AAA level. Every game we have is a quality game and that helps to make us better, too.”
The D10 title is the only thing on the line in Wednesday’s final as both Ross and Lourdes have qualified to compete in CWOSSA tournaments late this week, Ross in AAA and Lourdes in AA.
“It takes the pressure off CWOSSA for the final game,” Douglas said. :Now it’s a D10 championship on the line which is No. 1 right now in our hearts. That’s what we’re thinking of.”
If the final gets postponed, it’ll be played sometime after the CWOSSA championship tournaments.
Tuesday’s win by Ross keeps the Royals unbeaten in D10 play this season. They’d finished first at the end of the regular season at 14-0 while Lourdes was second at 11-3.
Junior Boys’ Basketball
Centennial received 16 points from Carlos Coronado and 15 from Karan Hira in the semifinal win.
Cohen Wesley had a game-high 22 for Ross while Drew Dunlop added 13.
Centennial is to play the Orangeville Bears in the championship match Wednesday at 10:20 a.m. at Guelph CVI. It’s a morning game as it needs to be played before the CWOSSA tournaments as both teams are AAA squads and only one moves on.
Centennial had finished first at the end of the regular season at 12-2 while Orangeville was third at 10-4.
- Guelph Sports Journal