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32 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday April 19, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Sports Oakville Beaver Tile selection made enjoyable! FACTORY TILE DEPOT 1360 Speers Road, Oakville (East of third line) Factory Tile Depot 905.465.1650 Mon.-Thurs., 9:30-6, Fri. 9:30-5, Sat., 10-5, Closed Sun. www.factorytiledepot.ca SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008 Wildcats come up big in Catholic girls' final St. Matthew wins first hoops title By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER SOMETHING BRUIN: Wes Hopkins of River Oaks Bruins, center, hugs his teammates as they celebrate their 36-33 win in the Halton elementary public basketball final against Captain R. Wilson at Burlington Central High School. Teammate Dylan Munro, right, drives past Misha Radovanich of Captain R. Wilson. River Oaks ends nine-year Halton basketball drought Bruins' boys edge Captain R. Wilson in all-Oakville final By Adam Johnston SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER It's been a long time since the River Oaks Bruins boys' basketball team could claim they were Halton champions. In fact, they haven't been able to make such an assertion this century...until now. The Bruins won their first championship since 1999 Thursday night at the Burlington Central High School `Trojan Dome' in an allOakville final. They topped the Captain R. Wilson Raiders in dramatic fashion, 36-33. River Oaks jumped out to an early lead on the strength of six first-half points from Mitch Atkinson, and led 2416 heading into the break. Bruins' coach Gord Ferguson equipped his team with a game plan that included a full-court press designed to force Capt. Wilson to turn over the ball. "Our game plan was to double team their big guy and press the ball," said Ferguson. "Our defense is kind of a controlled chaos." Raiders' coach Mike Bernard feared the Bruins would try to pressure his team into turnovers. "Our big problem all year has been the press," he said. "We knew that they were going to come out with that and we prepared for it, but that's been our Achilles heel." The Raiders' defense stepped up in the third quarter holding the Bruins scoreless. Their offense added seven points in the third period to pull within one point at 24-23. However, the Bruins' potent offense bounced back with a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter and open-up the lead again. Despite a strong effort by Raider point guard Raj Dharni -- he led all scorers with 14 points, four of which were scored late in the fourth quarter to pull his team within one basket with 48 seconds left -- the Bruins capitalized on key free throws down the stretch to pull out the win. "You forget sometimes that they're only 13 and 14 year-old kids. They hung on and they fought. They worked their butts off out there," said Ferguson about his team's resilience. "I get excited and nervous because I want them to do so well." Max Raike and Dylan Munro finished with 11 points each for River Oaks, while Atkinson contributed with 10 points to the victory. Cole Graves chipped in with 12 points for Captain R. Wilson in the loss. Both Halton Catholic elementary girls' basketball finalists faced the challenge of playing bigger opponents, but in much different ways. For the St. Matthew Wildcats, its school population is the hurdle it has to overcome. "We're a small school (402 students) so it's hard to field a team sometimes," said coach Mike Yorke. For the St. Gabriel Storm, which has 110 more students to draw from, the discrepancy was a little more obvious. As the teams lined up for the opening tip Thursday night at Notre Dame Secondary in Burlington, St. Gabriel's tallest player -- Cassidy Svedlyk -- was still looking up at St. Matthew's shortest player -- Emily Wilk, whose height would be a welcome addition to almost any other team. In the end, when it came to pulling down rebounds and swatting away shots on the court, the latter was more of a factor as St. Matthew capped its undefeated season -- which also included a pair of tournament victories -- by capturing the title with a 45-24 victory. "It's been an advantage all year," said Yorke, who coaches the team with Nancy Guerin, "but not only are they tall, they've got skill. They're unselfish, they spread the ball around and they generally take quality shots. If they don't they usually look over at the bench as if to say `Sorry' when they're going back up the court." And when those skills are coupled with their size advantage, it's almost unfair. At times as St. Matthew players looked for a passing option, they looked like an older sister teasing a younger sibling, holding the ball above their head as their opponents valiantly, but unsuccessfully, leaped and swatted at ball. As it turns out, that analogy is not that far off. St. Gabriel's starting lineup features two Grade 6s, Maddi Huffman and Maddy Boelhower. Still, seeing the opponents towering over his squad left St. Gabriel coach Justin Brens wondering, "I'd like to know what they're putting in the water over there." St. Gabriel actually led 6-4 after the opening half and, thanks to the outstanding shooting of Siobhan Manning who was knocking down shots from just inside the arc with regularity, were still tied 12-12 midway through the second quarter. While St. Matthew kept pace early on with the rebounding of Crystal Marentette and Jennifer Sutton, they showed they were more than a one-dimensional team. Wilk made a nice block, took the ball up the court for a layup and even drew a foul. Marentette and Laura Whaley, who shared the team lead with 14 points each, and Jessica Allingham showed the ability to knock down shots outside of the paint. St. Matthew turned the game around with a 17-2 run from the midpoint of the second quarter to the midway point of the third. Defensively, the strategy was simple. "Take 15 (Manning) away," said Yorke of the Storm's top scorer, who had 14 points. Continuing to drive the basket and draw fouls, St. Gabriel scored most of its points from the line, going 8-for-12 in the second half. For St. Matthew, Wilk and Allingham each had six points.