30 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2009 New-look Cavaliers playing exciting basketball Run-and-gun KCC hopes to qualify for OFSAA It's been a season of change for the King's Christian Collegiate Cavaliers. Gone are the twin towers from last year's senior boys' basketball team, 6-foot-8 Ray Spitoff and 6-foot-4 George Foty. Gone, too, is the remainder of the starting lineup. And long gone is the plodding style of play that helped the Cavs to the Halton Division 2 championship last season. What remains is the hope the team can take the next step after coming within one victory of advancing to last year's provincial A high school tournament. Cavaliers coach Richard Stewart knew his team couldn't survive playing the same game it did last season when it defeated Acton to deliver the school's first Halton title. "We had to change," he said. "Last year we could slow it down, walk it down the floor and go to our bigs. This year we had to go to a running offence. You can't put a square peg into a round hole. I had to put in a style that suited the players we have." How drastic of a change has it been? Consider King's Christian won last year's final 28-21. Wednesday, playing another run-and-gun team in the Milton District Mustangs, the score was 21-18 -- at the end of the first quarter. The Mustangs would go on to an 83-75 victory, matching the highest-scoring game in Halton this season -- that one also involved the Cavaliers, an 85-73 loss to Aldershot. "It's mistakes," Stewart said of the workin-progress system. "They're young kids so they are going to make mistakes. They'll make some bad passes and turn the ball over. The question is, will they run back on defence? The defence isn't as strong as it was last year, but if we can run with teams like (Milton) we'll be there at the end." No need for shot clock While the style may not be perfect yet, it's certainly entertaining. Unless you're enthralled by the intricacies of defensive basketball, the Cavaliers' style is a lot of fun to watch. High school basketball can, at times, leave you yearning for a shot clock. But there was no need for one with the Mustangs and Cavaliers on the court. On average, there was a scoring play every 25 seconds. Stewart believes once the Cavaliers become more comfortable with it, they will improve their results. Not that the results have been that bad so far. King's came into Wednesday's game with a 4-2 mark that put it in a tie for first place with Milton in the Richardson East Division. While the defence will need to improve, there are certainly no problems on the offensive end. The Cavs boast an array of talented shooters and have averaged 64.9 points per game. King's hit eight three-pointers against Milton -- five by Mike Mikhaeil, who finished with a team-best 25 points and three by Danny Mystry, who scored all nine of his points from beyond the arc. Ray Kim and Drew Hebb each contributed 11 points, J.C. Mercica chipped in eight and Jon Rassen, the lone player to start a game last season, had seven. The odds of King's repeating as Halton champs are long. St. Thomas Aquinas was a dominant team last year, going undefeated against the larger schools in the region. This season, with the Halton league divided by school size, the Raiders have been all but unstoppable. The average margin of victory in their first six games was 37.5 points. While the Raiders are also putting up more than 70 points a game, the biggest difference is they allow 19 fewer per game than the Cavs. King's was set to play Aquinas for the first time yesterday (Thursday). While the task was daunting, Stewart wasn't about to concede. "Even the Celtics and Lakers lose some time," he said. "We just have to find a way." Even without repeating, King's can still earn a trip to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) tournament. Acton (1-6) is the only other Halton team in the single-A (smallest schools) class and KCC handled the Bearcats easily, 62-38, when the teams met last month. Being a small school does present challenges. Stewart had just 14 players at tryouts. By comparison, Milton had 50 and carries a roster of 15. "I'd have taken the cook from the cafeteria if he came out," Stewart said. Though the Cavaliers' five returning players primarily played back-up roles last season, Stewart said they learned a lot. GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER "They found out hard work pays off," he said. "You try to teach kids dedication and FLYING HIGH: King's Christian's Drew Hebb (with ball) goes up for a layup as Milton District's Sean responsibility and last year they saw that we Koopman looks on during Wednesday's Halton high school senior boys' basketball game in Milton. The won games by their will." Mustangs outlasted King's 83-75 in a showdown for top spot in the Richardson East Division. www.icesports.com 905-845-6989