The Brantford Collegiate Colts defeated a pesky Assumption College Lions squad to capture the junior boys’ high school basketball championship.
The Colts used their size and depth to defeat a hard working Lions squad 52-42 to win the Athletic Association of Brant Haldimand Norfolk title.
“It was a really close game and I think it was our defense that won it,” Brandon Britton, of the Colts said. “We hit our shots and we did what we needed to do.”
On offense, the Colts moved the ball well, Britton said adding that the Lions played better than the Colts had expected.
“I’m proud of the way our team played,” Britton said of the junior boys’ basketball season.
Britton had 20 points for the Colts while Noah Bear-Lowen had eight points and Liam Tesh and Zander Rivers scored six each.
The Lions, who had lost to the Colts earlier in the season were led in scoring by Andrew McGarr who had 20 and Zagham Syed who had 11.
“We just wanted to come out and work hard,” Damian Osadebamwen, of the Lions said. “We lost to them by 25 points last time so we just wanted to come out and play as hard as we could.
“I’m proud of our team.”
When you look at how the Lions match up against the Colts physically they were definitely the underdogs.
“We didn’t have one player over six-foot-one, six-foot-two,” he added. “We just worked hard all year round.”
The Lions came out strong in the first quarter and took an early 5-1 lead.
But the Colts settled down after missing some early scoring opportunities and their size and depth eventually took over.
By the end of the first quarter, the Colts led 15-9.
In the second quarter, the Lions got some good looks but couldn’t get shots to fall and didn’t get many second chances because of the strong defensive rebounding by the Colts.
By the end of the first half, the Colts led 27-15 and despite some valiant comeback attempts by the Lions, the Colts never relinquished the lead.
The Lions got within six points of the Colts a couple of times but the size, depth and overall talent of the BCI squad carried the day.
“It was a very competitive game,” BCI coach Marc Cohoon said. “I give ACS a lot of credit for the way they ran their offense.
“They played well offensively and hit some threes which kept them in the game.”
Overall, Cohoon was pleased with the season.
“It has been great,” he said. “I wish we could have had some more games and tournaments but I really appreciate that we were able to play some basketball.”
The other members of the BCI team not already mentioned includes Evan Ireland, Charlie Dawson, Grayson Young, Dave Bate, Traivon Hayes, Anshvir Ahluwalia, Sam Cavan and coach Patrick Bear-Lowen.
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