The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Guardian Angels hangs on to clinch north Halton. titie 1ý Late comeback by St. Anthony off crs dramatic finish HERB GARBUTT / METROLAND WEST MEiDIA GROUF GOING UP: St. Anthony of Paduas Dylan Sabator takes a shot during Wednesday's north Halton finals. By Herb Garbutt METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP The sehools are separated by the length of 62 basketball courts. Its likely that the players from Guardian Angels and St. Anthony of Padua covered that distance dur-ing the course of the nortb Halton Cat.holic boys basketball final. And ifs likely that the north Halton basketball championship won't travel much farther in the coming years. The two Milton sehools met to decide the title Wednesday, and this year the boys basketball title will reside soutb of Derry Road - after Guardian Angels held off a late comeback by their rivais for a 50-45 victory. "This is good for the boys," said Guardian Angels coach Mark Stoetzel, wbosc team was eliminated by St. Anthony in last year's playoffs. "They al know each other. They were shaking hands before the game, but once they stant pîay ing theres that comnpetitîs e lire. Ifýs a little about bragging riglis Ior them."ý Those rights previously belonged to St. Anthony, wbo not only won last year's championship, but were undefeated coming into Wednesdays game. That undefeated season included a regular- season win over Guardian Angels. But it was Guardian Angels wbo jumped in front in the titie rematch, tak- ing a 32-20 lead into the haîf behind the play of Stefan Toral 011 points in the opening hall) and Payne Wood (10). Guardian Angels stili held a comfort- able 42-32 advantage with six minutes to play until St. Anthony capit.alized on the numerous free throw opportunities it created by driving to the basket. St. Anthony narrowed the gap to six, but Guardian Angels - after restoring the lead to 46-37 with a minute to go - looked to be on its way to victory St. Anthony, which got 10 points each from Tristan Walker and Dylan Sabater and nine [rom Allen Alora, was not about to surrender its titie so easily. It exerted furious pressure on Guardiani Angels, creating turnovers and contcsting every inbound pass. With 15 seconds left, St. Anthony had pulled within four at 49-45 but eventually timne ran out on its come- back bid. "We needed a fcw more minutes on our side, saidl St. .-\thlonvs" Relis 1rratti whio coaches the teain ix iiî jay I renza. While St. Anthony managed to keep Toral in check in the second haîf, they had no answer for Payne, wbo added 12 more points in the second haîf for a game-high 22. "We just couldo't take 21 (Payne)," Frenza said. -He's unstoppable," Stoetzel said. Fiecs a lerocious hîg mnan tiat just gocs and gets the bail." o Payne is also the centrepiece of a team that should flot oniy challenge ats southern neighbours for the Halton tatle, but belp it contend once again next year.o He'l1 return next year along witb fellow Grade 7 starter point guard Carlo Sanchez, as well as Mattbew DaPape and Grade 6 Z guard Kobe Lopez, wbo came off the bench to provide some key minutes down the 3 stretch. Sanchez, who had seven points Wednesday, leads Guardian Angels' up - tempo game and if tbey can execute their plays, tbey may add the regional titie to their trophy case. But while Stoetzel antici- pates a big challenge [rom the south i-lton schools, be knows he can't discount his neigbbours, who also move on to the regional qualifiers. "We can run with any team," Stoetzelj said. "We're strong enougb to compete with the Oakville and Burlington schools but it wouldn't surprise me if we meet (St. Anthony) again in the qualifiers. 1 look for- ward to that." "ýtoctzel said the cetings hersx ýcen the nieigbbouring schools brings out the best in both teams, which is why it shouldn't be a surprise if they're waging another battie for the titie next year. Its easy as 1,92, 3... " Search tens of thousands of new and used vehicles. * Refine your search by proximity, makes, models, price and more. * Review detailed vehicle descriptions and 3600 views of each vehicle. ca ýFa st.