Jr. Titans hold off Longhorns to win Halton Tier 1 titleBy Jon Kuiperijpressure, rebounding, defence and overall BEAVER SPORTS EDITORleadership.If its not either of them, Esteban He had just scored 22 points to lead the added, its a couple other guys.Holy Trinity Titans to the Halton junior And MacKenzie certainly had help. Ernest boys basketball Tier 1 championship, but provided inside scoring (13 points) and gave Kimbal MacKenzie wasnt about to take all Trinity a significant rebounding advantage the credit.on both ends, while Perry Billiard came off It didnt necessarily have to be me, said the bench to draw a key charge, pull down a the 14-year-old point guard. It doesnt have few rebounds and hit three of four free to be a certain player on our team. throws in the final two minutes.Everybodys capable of scoring the basket-Still, the Longhorns managed to make ball, rebounding, defending. We have a lot of things difficult for the Titans, who had talent on the team.beaten Corpus Christi by 23 points during The Titans rode that depth to their sec-the regular season and by 12 in a tourna-ond regional junior boys basketball title in ment at the beginning of the year.three years, defeating the Corpus Christi Corpus Christi coach Rob Biturajac was Longhorns 57-50 Tuesday at Sheridan pleased with the way his team continued to College to conclude an undefeated season in battle after falling behind 43-26 late in the Halton league play.third quarter.Trinity jumped out to an 11-point lead Our goal was to keep the game close and after the first quarter, swelled that advan-compete. We threw a lot of different looks at tage to 17 points in the third frame and then them, defensive pressures, and it finally withstood a Longhorns rally in the final seemed to work in the fourth quarter, he quarter that saw Corpus Christi whittle the said.gap down to four points in the last two min-But (the Titans) are a well-coached utes.team. They adapted to our pressure and MacKenzie sparked the Titans in a variety were able to finish out the game.of ways knocking down outside jumpers, Miami Kangu led Corpus Christi with 16 setting up teammates and hitting a couple points, including a couple three-pointers of acrobatic layups.during the Longhorns fourth-quarter surge. Hes been our guy, along with (center) Liam Jackson provided plenty of energy for Nick Ernest, Trinity head coach Ron Corpus Christis comeback attempt as well, RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVEREsteban said. Those guys since Christmas while Justin Saddlemyre did a solid job break have upped their game to when it defending Ernest in the paint. Kellan Clarke ATTACKING THE PAINT:Kimbal MacKenzie of the Holy Trinity Titans (with ball) drives tomatters most, theyre the ones who carry contributed 10 points and Rich Malana and the basket against a Corpus Christi defender during Tuesday's Halton junior boys' basketball Tier 1the team. Not just scoring well, but ball Saddlemyre had eight.final at Sheridan. MacKenzie scored 22 points to lead Trinity to a 57-50 win.Aquinas seniors gain revengeagainst King's in Tier 2 finalRAIDERS By Ryan GlassmanThat really hurt our guys, we thought ROLL:SPECIAL TO THE BEAVERabout it in practice and our goal was to make it St. Thomas to the championship and get another crack at Aquinas RaidersWhen it mattered most, the St. Thomas them and thats why they came out so guard Will Aquinas Raiders senior boys basketball team strong.Coulthard (left) went up huge early and never looked back.The Raiders got out to an 11-2 lead within carries the ballGrabbing a 14-point lead against the unde-the first four minutes of the first quarter. By down the floorfeated Kings Christian Collegiate Cavaliers the end of the period, Coulthard, Meagher and while King's after the opening quarter of the Halton Tier 2 Anderson had combined for 18 points to put Christianhigh school championship game, the Raiders Aquinas up 25-11.Collegiate's Martincruised to a 75-58 victory Tuesday afternoon at Kings Christian continued to struggle in Cho is in hot pur-Sheridan College.the second as it was outscored 12-6 and trailed suit Tuesday atStart of the season, first practice, we said 37-17 at the half.Sheridan College.our first goal was to win the Halton (champi-The closest the Cavs would come to cutting Aquinas defeatedonship) and then get to OFSAA, said Aquinas the deficit happened late in the third when the Cavaliersswingman Dan Thompson, who finished with swingman Ray Kim (who lead all scorers with 75-58 in the 16 points. We got one of them and were going 23 points) hit a layup and a three pointer with Halton senior for the next one.19 seconds remaining to trim the Raiders lead boys' basketballRaiders guard Will Coulthard led his team to 51-41. But Thompson hit his own trey just Tier 2 final.in scoring with 22 points while Thomas before the buzzer and the three started a 13-0 Meagher and Evan Anderson added 14 and run for Aquinas, putting a late Kings Christian ERIC RIEHL /nine points respectively to hand the Cavaliers comeback out of the question.OAKVILLE BEAVER(12-1) their first loss this year. (The Cavaliers) hit a bunch of shots, give Our only loss of the season was to KCC, credit to them, Thompson said. They got it Raiders head coach Joe Polizzi said, referring to down to 10 points. That was a real test for us to a Jan. 5 encounter that Kings Christian won finish strong and get the win.62-58. See Raiders, page 21www.insideHALTON.com OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, February 24, 2011 18