By William Bailey
A deafening hometown crowd called for defence and the Ashbury Colts delivered by keeping their opponents off the scoreboard for the entire second quarter en route to a place in the medal round of the OFSAA ‘AA’ boys’ basketball championships on Tuesday evening in Barrhaven.
The Colts trailed by two after the first quarter of their quarter-final match at a lively St. Mother Teresa Catholic High School, but then outscored Etobicoke’s Silverthorn Spartans 18-0 in the second frame to jump ahead 33-17.
To chants of “Colts! Colts! Colts!” from the local fans, Ashbury cruised on to a 64-46 victory and a semi-final showdown with top-seeded St. Francis from St. Catharines on Wednesday at noon at St. Joseph Catholic High School.
“The scoreboard displayed us as the guests, but we certainly felt like it was a home game with how amazing our fans were tonight,” underlined Ashbury forward Jackson Lafrance. “Our team was working hard and played aggressively all game, but our fans definitely energized us. Especially when it came to our defence.”
The Colts flipped the script from last year’s OFSAA quarter-finals when they were the fourth seeds and lost to the fifth seeds. This time they were ranked fifth and came out of top.
“That left a bitter taste in our mouths. We hope that helps to motivate the guys,” Ashbury coach Ian McKinnon said in a pre-tournament interview with High Achievers columnist Martin Cleary, noting his squad is defensive-minded first and foremost.
“We spend a lot of time on defence, like to run, have a solid transition game and then put the ball in someone’s hands at the right time,” added MacKinnon, whose team won 64-39 earlier in the day over #12 St. Joseph’s from St. Thomas to reach the quarters.
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After notching a thrilling 78-73 overtime win over the #15 Hon. W.C. Kennedy Clippers of Windsor, the #20 All Saints Avalanche’s Cinderella run came to an end at the hands of #7 St. Joseph’s of Barrie in the quarter-finals.
The Avalanche fought tooth and nail in each of the final three quarters, but it was a poor start, in which they trailed 28-8 after the first quarter, that ultimately cost the Kanata school a shot at a provincial title.
Despite the 73-57 defeat, the Avalanche’s expectations in the tournament were certainly exceeded.
“For the lowest ranked team to essentially finish in the top eight is quite impressive,” said Cindy Aldridge, an All Saints supporter. “Even when things started getting ugly, they were able to maintain their focus and stay locked in. Their energy and effort were present in this game and throughout the tournament. They should all be proud of what they’ve accomplished.”
The championship medal matches will be played Wednesday night at 6 p.m. (bronze) and 8 p.m. (gold) at St. Mother Teresa Catholic High School.
Ashbury swimmers are golden at OFSAA in Toronto
The Ashbury Colts swim team also made waves today on the first of two competition days at the OFSAA swimming championships, earning a pair of relay podium performances at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Complex.
Maya Alsarraf, Natalie Shen, Olivia MacNeil and Elle Nakonechny teamed up twice to win junior girls’ high school division medals – first for a silver in the 200-metre medley relay and then for a gold in the 200 m freestyle relay.
Previously a national capital cross-country running champion, Isabella Chiumera of St. Pius captured a bronze medal in the open girls’ 200 m individual medley.
The Colts are the last team standing out of Ottawa boys’ basketball teams that competed at the three divisions of OFSAA events.
No. 13 Glebe earned a morning upset over #4 Dr. G.W. Williams of Aurora with a 66-61 triumph, but narrowly missed a second with 41-39 defeat to #2 Holy Names of Windsor in the quarterfinals of the ‘AAA’ championships in Stoney Creek.
Notre Dame exited the OFSAA ‘A’ championships in Welland with a competitive match against the tournament’s top seeds, falling 70-62 to E.J. Lajeunesse of Windsor.
The Béatrice-Desloges Bulldogs dropped their first set of the OFSAA ‘AA’ girls’ volleyball championships, but still comfortably advanced to the medal round in Sydenham.
No team had scored more than 15 points against the Bulldogs, who won all four of their preliminary-round matches in straight sets, until Port Perry stole the second set of their quarter-final match, but B-D still prevailed 25-16, 17-25, 25-12, 25-21.
The Bulldogs will face fellow undefeated entry North Star of Amherstburg in the semi-finals Wednesday morning, followed by a medal match later in the day.
Franco-Cité and Glebe both missed the championship round of the ‘AAA’ girls’ volleyball event in Markham, but Franco-Cité is still competing in the consolation bracket with a semi-final contest coming up Wednesday.
With a 2-2 record, the Maurice-Lapointe Loups finished third of five teams in their pool at the ‘A’ event in Elliott Lake/Blind River and then lost their first match of the consolation round.
– with files from Dan Plouffe & Martin Cleary