Sweep for St. Mary's at city basketball championships (13 photos)

It was a Knight to remember for all three St. Mary's College Knights boys' basketball teams.

All three teams found themselves competing in the championship games in the Midget, Junior and Senior divisions held at St. Basil Secondary School on Saturday night.

With the city titles on the line in all three games, the Knights proved they had what it takes to pull off victories in all three games.

The Knights defeated Korah 52-46 in Midget and 40-30 in Junior before topping the Bawating Braves 40-37 in front of a packed house in Senior.

In the Senior division championship game, St. Mary's fell behind 15-7 after the first quarter and spent the entire first half playing catch-up to the Braves.

The Braves were led by D.J. Wright, who posted 12 points in the opening half to pace the Braves to a 20-15 lead heading into half time.

The Knights turned things around in the second half and took their first lead of the night midway through the fourth quarter when Wes Ontonovich hit a clutch three-pointer to put St. Mary's ahead 34-31.

The Knights managed to hold the lead despite Bawating having chances late to tie the game.

Pat Murray led the Knights attack with 10 points while Jordan Forbes and Brian Denneny added nine points each. Wright led all scorers in the game with 19 points in the loss.

St. Mary's coach Loris Pecile commented on the clutch shot by Ontonovich in the fourth quarter.

"That shot was very important," Pecile said. "We were having a very poor shooting night. (Ontonovich) plays so hard every night for us."

*** JUNIOR:

In the Junior final between St. Mary's and Korah, the Knights went on a 10-2 run through the game's first five minutes and never looked back as they chalked up a 40-30 victory over the Colts.

The Colts attempted to pull closer in the third quarter but could not keep their magic going in the fourth as they put up just four points in the final quarter to seal their fate.

Mike Esson led all scorers with 10 points for St. Mary's. Marc Hurtubise added eight points while Anthony Martella and Jordan Verdone added six points in the victory.

Jon Price led the way for Korah with eight points while Ben Ginter also added eight in the loss.

*** MIDGET:

In the Midget game, St. Mary's fell behind in the opening quarter by four points but battled back and with two clutch free throws with just under four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter by Cody MacDonald to pull out a 52-46 victory over Korah.

The Knights held Korah to just six points in the final quarter.

The Knights' Ricky Lamon poured in 17 points to lead all scorers in the game. MacDonald and Zack Filioglou also had solid games for St. Mary's with eight and seven points, respectively.

Matt Glibota and Jon Beharriel led the way for Korah, each picking up 10 points in the loss. Nathan Lowrie added eight points.

*** NOSSA PLAYDOWNS:

The decisions were also made as to which teams would attend the AA NOSSA tournaments in North Bay and which teams would compete in the AAA NOSSA tournaments being held in Sault Ste. Marie next weekend.

In the Senior division, Korah and Bawating will compete in the AAA portion in Sault Ste. Marie while St. Mary's will compete in AA.

In Junior, St. Mary's and St. Basil will compete in AAA while Korah will compete in AA in North Bay.

Korah earned the extra senior NOSSA berth with a 52-44 win over the Sir James Dunn Eagles in a playoff at Bawating on Saturday morning. Christian Johnson and Bruno Petroni led the Colts with 12 points each while D.J. Idehen replied with 21 for the Eagles.

The St. Basil Saints grabbed a NOSSA berth in a junior playoff with 52-33 win over Sir James Dunn. Steve Pandzic led the winners with 18 points while Brett Davey and Ryan Lidstone topped the Eagles with six each.

Meanwhile, the NOSSA 'A' championships will be held next weekend at Central Algoma Secondary School in Desbarats.

*** ALL-STAR SELECTIONS:

The Senior division All-Stars were announced following all the action on Saturday. Named to the All-Star team were:

* Pat Murray, Wes Ontonovich and Jordan Forbes of St. Mary's * D.J. Wright, Kyle Gauthier, Craig Neilson and Dave Fremlin of Bawating * Christian Johnson of Korah * Josh Marasco of St. Basil * Mike Beharriell of Sir James Dunn

*** REFEREE'S AWARD:

The referee's award, given annually by the Sault Ste. Marie Basketball Referee's Association to the senior division player best combining sportsmanship with ability, was won by St. Mary's Wes Ontonovich.

Ontonovich beat out nominees Nick DiDonato of St. Basil, Jourdan Morin of Korah, Trevor Laforrest of Sir James Dunn, Jake Doan of White Pines and Kyle Gauthier of Bawating.

*** MOST VALUABLE PLAYER:

The final award presented on the night was received by Bawating's D.J. Wright as the Senior division's most valuable player.

Wright beat out nominees Pat Murray from St. Mary's and Korah's Christian Johnson.

(With files and photos from Ken Hilderley)