Emotional Braves end city championship drought (UPDATED)

The Bawating Braves weren't prepared to let their city championship drought continue any longer.

Backed by intensity and a solid team effort, the Braves took an early lead and held on for a 55-47 win over the St. Basil Saints to claim the High School Basketball Senior Boys City Championship at Korah on Saturday night.

The victory marked the first senior boys city championship for the school since 1987.

"I thought our defensive intensity was the difference," said Braves head coach Clair Campbell. "We haven't played a match up zone against them before and with that maybe being new to them and our press, we were able to slow them down a bit. We weren't looking for steals we were just trying to slow them down."

"Coach (Craig) Genys emphasized (the drought) to the guys from the very first practise. We looked up at the banner hanging in our gym from our last city championship. We didn't say it, but we thought we could challenge and play with the good programs like St. Basil and St. Mary's."

The Braves will now advance to the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA) AA championships next weekend at Central Algoma Secondary School in Desbarats. The Saints move onto the NOSSA AAA playdowns hosted by Sudbury LaSalle next weekend.

After the Saints scored the game's first four points, Bawating began to take control with the next six points. After a pair of St. Basil free throws, Bawating closed the opening quarter on a 9-0 run including a long jump shot from D.J. Wright at the buzzer.

After an even second quarter, the Braves took a 29-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Bawating continued to hold their lead in the second half and threw another dagger at the Saints as Ashton Young hit a clutch lay up to give the Braves another buzzer beater to close the third quarter with a 45-32 lead.

The Saints refused to quit in the fourth quarter and made an attempt to rally. Bryan Picco, who had a solid game for the Saints, hit a long three-point shot early in the quarter to cut Bawating's lead to 10 at 47-37.

St. Basil managed to claw to within seven but the Braves sealed the win with clutch baskets down the stretch.

"Guys like Ashton Young, Tim Young and David Fremlin put in key performances for us. Kyle Gauthier did a great job bring the ball up, playing defense and grabbing rebounds. Guys like that are the heart and soul of this team and they do some of the little things needed for us to be successful," said Campbell.

Wright led the Braves offensively with 19 points while Craig Nielson added 12, Kyle Gauthier 11 and David Fremlin eight.

"Teamwork won this game for us," said Wright. "We worked together, we moved the ball around, hit our shots and played good defense. We were concerned when they were coming back in the second half but we said to ourselves that we had to step it up and we did."

Picco led the Saints offense with 20 points while Josh Marasco added 10, Jordan Zuke nine and Mike Oliveira eight.

"I think shooting was the difference in the game," said Saints head coach Louie Mazzuca. "We shot terribly in the first half and Bawating was hot early and took the lead.

"I thought they would come out more nervous than they did. They came out very confident and shot the ball extremely well. I wouldn't be surprised if they shot 60 percent in that half and some of the shots they made were very tough."

Gauthier was selected as the College Prospects of America player of the game.

*** MVP:

Bawating's D.J. Wright was selected as the senior division's most valuable player this season. Wright beat out Korah's Christian Johnson and St. Mary's Pat Murray.

"This honour feels so great, it's unbelievable," said Wright. "But I really didn't think that I would win it this year."

Wright, standing at six-fooot-six and 205 pounds, arrived in the Sault last season after moving back to the city from Hornepayne and has taken the league by storm.

"He is just the greatest kid," said Campbell. "He doesn't complain, he doesn't say a word and he faces all kinds of special attention from other teams. Players are all over him trying to slow him down but he just keeps on playing.

"The biggest thing is that he wants all the players on this team to succeed. If he get the ball down in low post and three guys move in on him, he is thinking that there are three other guys open. He will hand the ball off and there have actually been times when we've had had to tell him and force him to shoot more."

*** REFEREES' AWARD:

Wright was also a unanimous decision as the recipient of the John Marasco Trophy as the referees' award winner for best combining ability with sportsmanship.

Other nominees included Korah's Jourdan Morin, St. Basil's Bryan Picco, St. Mary's Wes Ontonovich, Sir James Dunn's Mike Beharriell and White Pines' Ryan Maunu.

*** ALL-STAR TEAM:

Twelve players were selected to a senior division all-star team following the championship game on Saturday night.

The team includes Sir James Dunn's Mike Beharriell, Korah's Jourdan Morin and Christian Johnson, St. Mary's Wes Ontonovich and Pat Murray, White Pines' Matt Premo, St. Basil's Bryan Picco, Mike Oliveira and Josh Marasco along with Bawating's D.J. Wright, Kyle Gauthier and Craig Nielson.

*** ELSEWHERE:

* The CASS Huskies lost out in their bid for a NOSSA position with a 42-37 loss to the Elliot Lake Atoms in the North Shore championship game in Elliot Lake on Thursday. Andrew Miron led the Huskies with 15 points.

* The champion of the Nippissing District Association in the North Bay area has been declared as the West Ferris Trojans claimed their fifth consecutive title over the Chippewa Raiders in exciting fashion.

The Trojans will venture to CASS next weekend to compete against the Braves at the NOSSA AA playdowns.

The read details on the Trojans victory from SooToday.com's sister site, baytoday.ca, in North Bay, click here.