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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, February 24, 2 0 1 7 | 1 6 Dual-threat Ridge caps perfect season By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff The Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils didn't have to beat ju st one very good team in Wednes day's Halton final, they had to beat two. U sing two five-man units, the Iroquois Ridge Trailblazers wore down OT, outscoring the Red Devils by 27 points in the sec ond half to turn a one-point halftime lead into a convincing 75-47 victory in the se nior boys' Tier 2 AAA basketball final. "For u s with the two units, nobody gets tired," said Luka Mircetic, who led the Trailblazers with 17 points playing with a group that will all return next season. "We're fresh every time we get on the court. Everyone gives 100 per cent. That's how we win m ost of our gam es." Iroquois Ridge didn't win m ost of its games this season, it won all of them. The victory in the Halton final capped a perfect 13-0 season for the Trailblazers. With Ridge leading 30-29 at the half, Trailblazers' guard Bishop Quaye set the tone in the third quarter. He drove relent lessly to the hoop, regardless of what ob stacles were in his path. "I like to bring that energy," said the Grade 12 student, who scored nine of his 15 points in the quarter. "It motivates everyone." W hen the second unit came on, there was no drop off. Mircetic nailed a pair of threes that extended the lead to 16. "Anyone on our team can score, we can run, defend," said Mircetic, who connected five times from beyond the arc. "If one guy catches fire, we get him the ball. It ju st hap pened to be me today." The Grade 11 student's assessm ent was proven in Ridge's dom inant second half. Nine players put up points in the fourth quarter alone. And as impressive as they were offensively, Ridge's defence w as the real star, holding OT to ju st one field goal and five points in the third quarter. OT m atched them in the early going. Early threes by Aidan Leskow iat and Nolan Jam es staked the Red Devils to a 7-3 lead but Ridge's M athieu Marek, who had 12 points and seven rebounds, controlled the boards and Stefan Momcilovic answered with a pair from distance during a 12-2 run that put Ridge ahead to stay. OT fought back in the final m inutes of the half. Jam es hit another three, contrib uting to his team-leading 12 points, and M oham ed Caplan scored five points in less than a m inute as part of a 9-1 OT run that tied the game. In the end, the Trailblazers' depth would prove to be too much. -- See insidehalton.com /sports fo r an extended version of this story Iroquois Ridge's Daniel Jurkovic attem pts to s p lit Oakville Trafalgar defenders Jakob Newton (left) and Max Barltrop (right) during Wednesday's Halton senior boys' Tier 2 AAA basketball final. Jurkovic had eight points in his te am 's 7 5 -4 7 win. New-look D pays off for Blakelock Continued from p. 15 ing the pursuit of the ball the Ti gers wanted. "We played hard defensively and were being aggressive," said the Grade 10 student. Never more so than in the sec ond quarter when Blakelock lim ited the Jagu ars to ju st two points to build a 19-8 lead heading into the half. Offensively, Blakelock leaned on the size of McKay, Petar Milosevic and Stephen Wenzl in the opening half. Milosevic had 10 points, eight re bounds and three steals while Wen zl had six points and five boards. CtK effectively clogged up the paint in third quarter and Blake lock responded by show ing they could score more than one way. McKay, Tiwon Kim and the appropriately nam ed Trae Case Spence all hit three pointers to extend the lead to 30-18. "We have some good shooters and the game can certainly change," Bonin said. "Once they get a com fortable feeling for the way it's go ing, the ball moves easier and they shoot with more confidence." -- See insidehalton.com/sports fo r an extended version of this story | photo by Rizierio Vertolli - Oakville Beaver If you'd like to advertise your place of worship in this feature please call J E N N I F E R G O U L D 289 293-0683 - PENTECOSTAL PRESBYTERIAN PRESBYTERIAN r m n SUNDAY Bible Teaching & Worship Service, 12:30-2:30pm (SO U T H R ID G E ROOM ) 0 Knox Presbyterian Church warmly welcomes you to grow with us in faith this Sunday Sunday, February 26th 1 0:30 Wbrship J 4 Your children will love it here! S undays at 10am & W ednesdays at 7pm IROQUOIS RIDGE COMMUNITY CENTRE 1051 Glenashton Dr. Glenashton & Eighth Line ia El 1 · m i ~ tJ Join our congregation and com m unity partners as we celebrate the one year anniversaryof the refugee sp onsorship program. a FRIDAY Teaching & Youth Service 7-8:30pm Tel: 416-892-8123 Fax: 1-866-281-5983 Pastor: Elder M.J. Brissett Email: mjbrisse@yahoo.ca ;-3 a f ···· Trafalgar PRESBYTERIAN T r a fa lg a r c h u r c h .c a 9 0 5 .8 4 2 .2 8 0 0 reception w ill be held after worship. JESUS IS LORD Knox O A K V IL L E Lakeshore & Dunn 905.844.3472 354 Upper Middle Road E. ( a c c e s s fro m L itc h fie ld R o a d ) K n o x O a k v ille .c o m