St. James Lions climb out of senior hoops basement
GUELPH – The St. James Lions climbed out of the District 10 high school senior boys’ basketball league’s basement with wins in their final two games of the regular season.
The win that really got the Lions out of the cellar was Thursday’s 83-78 victory over the Centre Wellington Falcons. The two teams had entered the game tied for seventh in the eight-team loop.
The Lions jumped ahead early as they were up 27-13 at the end of the opening quarter before the Falcons surged early in the second quarter, narrowing the gap to 35-29 midway through the quarter. However, St. James recovered to lead 45-32 at halftime and 69-56 at the end of the third quarter.
Daidan Carter connected for 37 points for St. James while Gianfranz dela Fuente had eight.
Gabe Leclaire collected 29 points for Centre Wellington while Tyler Holland had 28 and Gage Giles added nine.
Wednesday, the Lions defeated the Orangeville Bears 75-60 for their first win of the season.
Carter led St. James with 26 points while Wolfgang Zappia netted 19.
Jisiah Guthrie had 21 points for Orangeville.
Bishop Macdonell Celtics and Ross Royals finished the regular season tied atop the standings with 11-3 records while the Lourdes Crusaders were third at 10-4, Centennial Spartans fourth at 9-5, Guelph CVI Green Gaels fifth at 8-6, Orangeville Bears sixth at 4-10, St. James seventh at 2-12 and Centre Wellington eighth at 1-13.
Bishop Mac wins the tiebreaker with Ross as the Celtics won both of their regular-season games with the Royals — 57-48 at Ross Dec. 14 and 59-50 at home Feb. 6.
Playoffs are to start Tuesday with the quarter-finals. Centennial is to host GCVI, Lourdes is to host Orangeville, Ross is to host St. James and Bishop Mac is to host Centre Wellington. The game at Bishop Mac is to start at 5:30 p.m. while all the others are to begin at 4 p.m.
Quarter-final winners advance to the semifinals next Thursday.
The league’s final is slated for 2 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre.
Ross 85 Orangeville 71
Austin Robinson 15 and Bailey Kennedy each had 15 points for Ross while Hunter Yates and Ishaan Dhanju each had 11.
Jacob Lewis connected for 26 for Orangeville while Jisiah Guthrie had 24.
Lourdes 67 Guelph CVI 47
Dom Favaro hit for 21 points for Lourdes while Joe Basciano added 17.
Dedan Mwangi had 11 for GCVI and Eric Martara followed with nine.
Bishop Macdonell 68 Centennial 32
Scoring leaders not reported.
Ross 91 Centre Wellington 35
Drew Dunlop struck for 24 points for Ross while Andrew Becker had 16, Jon Wang 14 and Hunter Yates 13.
Gabe Leclair led Centre Wellington with 11 while Tyler Holland and Jordan Lavigne each had five.
Bishop Macdonell 48 Guelph CVI 37
Hayden Schut’s 17 points topped Bishop Mac’s scoring list while Ben Dorling had nine.
Malcom Mwangi had nine for GCVI.
Junior Boys’ Basketball
St. James finished atop the standings at the end of the regular season as the Lions finished at 13-1. They’re followed by Centre Wellington at 11-3, Ross at 10-4, Orangeville at 7-7, Bishop Mac and Lourdes both at 5-9, Centennial at 4-10 and GCVI at 1-13.
Tuesday’s quarter-finals, all with 4 p.m. game times, put Centennial at Centre Wellington, Bishop Mac at Orangeville, Lourdes at Ross and GCVI at St. James.
Quarter-final winners advance to next Thursday’s semifinals.
The league’s final is to go Feb. 17 at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre at 12 noon to start the championship doubleheader.
St. James 59 Centre Wellington 43
Hayden Khan led St. James with 13 points while Peyton Cummings had 10.
Lucas Albano had 16 for Centre Wellington.
Ross 63 Orangeville 44
Scoring leaders not reported.
Bishop Macdonell 52 Centennial 41
Scoring leaders not reported.
Lourdes 60 Guelph CVI 46
Lat Hiyabu hit for 16 points for Lourdes while Eisay Mokonen had 14.
Nitheesh W. had 18 for GCVI and Ronin Bonneveld added 10.
Ross 65 Centre Wellington 58
Nash Dunlop struck for 35 points for Ross while Adam Dakkak had 21.
Jason Watkins had 19 for Centre Wellington and Lucas Albano had 13.
St. James 83 Orangeville 53
Tim Coloma netted 17 points for St. James while Peyton Cummings had 15 and Kane Porcellato chipped in with 14.
Sterling Herbert had 12 for Orangeville and Nick Bernier added nine.
Bishop Macdonell 73 Guelph CVI 42
Jayden Thompson swished 47 points for Bishop Mac while Chayse Smith had 11, Ariel Yemame seven and Marve Obasuyi six.
Kyar Ayad had eight for GCVI and Ronin Bonneveld contributed seven.
- Guelph Sports Journal